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Author Spotlight: Integrating Ultrasound Imaging with Biochemical Markers for Thyroid Disease Diagnosis
Published on: February 9, 2024
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Assessing thyroid health: phenotypic age compared to chronological age
Dongyu Yang1, Cihang Lu1, Haonan Zhang1
1The Department of Endocrinology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
Frontiers in Endocrinology
|July 21, 2025
Summary
Phenotypic age, a biological aging measure, better reflects thyroid dysfunction than chronological age. This study reveals its stronger associations with thyroid disorders and potential as a clinical endocrine research marker.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Gerontology
- Biomarker Research
Background:
- Aging is linked to thyroid dysfunction, but the impact of biological aging markers like phenotypic age is not well understood.
- Phenotypic age integrates multiple biomarkers and chronological age to provide a comprehensive measure of biological aging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between chronological age, phenotypic age, and various thyroid function parameters and disorders.
- To compare the efficacy of phenotypic age versus chronological age in capturing age-related thyroid changes.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional analysis of 6,681 US adults from NHANES (2007-2012) with complete thyroid and age data.
- Weighted logistic regression and restricted cubic splines to model age-thyroid relationships, including nonlinear associations.
- Mediation analysis to explore the role of phenotypic age components in thyroid dysfunction.
Main Results:
- Phenotypic age demonstrated stronger linear associations with thyroid peroxidase antibody positivity, thyroglobulin antibody positivity, overt hyperthyroidism, and subclinical hypothyroidism compared to chronological age.
- Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) showed U-shaped relationships with both age metrics, while free triiodothyronine (FT3) had nonlinear associations.
- Mean cell volume and lymphocyte percentage were identified as mediators in the relationship between phenotypic age and specific thyroid dysfunctions.
Conclusions:
- Phenotypic age is a more effective indicator of aging-related thyroid alterations than chronological age.
- Phenotypic age holds promise as a valuable biological aging marker in clinical endocrine research and understanding thyroid health across the lifespan.
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