Gender-specific regulation of response to thyroid hormone in aging

Abstract

BackgroundSimilar to other systems, the endocrine system is affected by aging. Thyroid hormone, the action of which is affected by many factors, has been shown to be associated with longevity. The most useful marker for the assessment of thyroid hormone action is TSH level. Although age and gender are believed to modify the pituitary set point or response to free thyroid hormone concentration, the precise age- and gender-dependent responses to thyroid hormone have yet to be reported.MethodsWe analyzed the results of 3564 thyroid function tests obtained from patients who received medication at both out- and inpatient clinics of Shinshu University Hospital. Subjects were from among those with thyroid function test results in the normal or mildly abnormal range. Based on a log-linear relationship between the concentrations of FHs and TSH, we established the putative resistance index to assess the relation between serum FH and TSH levels.ResultsFree thyroid hormone and TSH concentration showed an inverse log-linear relation. In males, there was a negative relationship between the free T3 resistance index and age. In females, although there were no relationships between age and FHs, the indices were positively related to age.ConclusionsThese findings indicated that there is a gender-specific response to thyroid hormone with aging. Although the TSH level is a useful marker for the assessment of peripheral thyroid hormone action, the values should be interpreted carefully, especially with regard to age- and gender-related differences.

Association of Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone with Resting Energy Expenditure in Euthyroid Elderly Subjects: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…TSH is involved in regulating the activity of triiodothyronine (T 3 ) and thyroxine (T 4 ) [5,6], which interact with energy expenditure [7,8] . Significant negative changes in resting energy expenditure (REE), adjusted for the fatfree mass (FFM), as a function of TSH around the normal range induced by varying daily T 4 doses were reported in 9 female patients aged 25-72 [9] .…”

Evaluation of Different Levels Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients having Diffuse Goiter from Rawalpindi and Islamabad

“…Morreale de Escobar et al [6] have reported that thyroid hormones as being critical regulatory molecules that played an important role in functioning and development of various organs of vertebrate body particularly normal brain functioning before and after birth and further it has been examined that these are Tyrosine based hormones that are partially composed of iodine and their deficiency enlarges the thyroid tissue which is known as simple goiter [7]. Suzuki et al [8] have examined that alteration in TSH and free thyroid hormones have been observed in gender and during aging. They have further investigated that in males the process of aging have restrained the free thyroid hormones concentration but have not influenced on the concentration of TSH.…”

Evidences of Thyroid Dysfunction in Case of Nodular Goiter (Ng)

“…The clinical examination report of thyroid function tests were collected from various laboratories of Islamabad. In a whole sample of population, 131 patients were designated as normal and 53 patients as hyperthyroid or hypothyroid according to the values of TSH levels [13]. The study has worked out to determine the statistical difference between normal and hyperthyroid and hypothyroid versus control group individuals.…”