[Reversibility of dementia in hypothyroidism]

Thirteen percent of all dementia disorders are potentially reversible. Hypothyroidism is among the most frequent causes of reversible dementias. Although it is generally accepted that dementia symptoms in hypothyroidism can be significantly reduced, many questions about the therapeutic efficacy are unexplained. It has not been systematically investigated which psychopathological symptoms respond well to thyroid hormone substitution, how long the treatment should last and whether duration of symptoms or severity of dementia have an influence on the degree of remission of psychopathological impairment. We investigated these questions in two prospectively studied cases with dementia in hypothyroidism.