The relationship between nutritional status and thyroid function among adults in the USA: NHANES 2007-2012

Controlled Nutritional Status (CONUT) scores have been developed as quantitative tools that can be employed to gauge the nutritional status of individual patients. However, there has been very little research investigating the association between these CONUT scores and the function of the thyroid. As such, the present study was designed to address this research gap through the evaluation of a representative cohort of American adults. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data were herein used to separate subjects into those with normal nutritional status (CONUT score: 0-1) from those who were malnourished (CONUT scores > 1). Associations between these CONUT scores and the function of the thyroid were investigated through linear regression modeling, employing weighted analytical strategies and subgroup analyses. Overall, 8082 individuals from the NHANES 2007-2012 cohort were enrolled in this analysis. The weighted mean CONUT score for these individuals was 0.72 (0.02), with 6661 participants (weighted proportion: 83.12%) falling within the normal nutritional status group and 1421 participants (weighted proportion: 16.88%) within the malnourished group. In adjusted analyses, subjects who were malnourished were found to present with an increase in FT4 levels (β = 0.033; p < 0.001 together with reduced TT3 levels (β = -3.526; p = 0.01). The present data offer evidence in support of higher CONUT scores, which correspond to malnutrition, being related to increases in FT4 levels together with reductions in TT3 levels. More studies will be crucial to further probe the mechanistic drivers of these results.