Thyroid hypofunction related with the progression of human immunodeficiency virus infection

Thyroid function was evaluated in 119 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients at different stages of infection, compared with euthyroid normal subjects and hepatitis C virus infected blood donors as control groups. The low T3 state, well documented in severe nonthyroidal illnesses, was not found in these HIV infected patients. They showed lower FT4 levels and higher TSH and TBG values than euthyroid normal controls. These findings suggested a thyroid hypofunction becoming more evident with the progression of the infection as also supported by the presence of antithyroid autoantibodies mainly found in the symptomatic stages of the infection.