Higher thyroid hormone linked to artery disease, death

A study has recently warned increase in levels of a thyroid hormone is linked to artery disease and death in elderly and middle-aged people.

The findings indicated that increasing FT4 levels is linked to twice the odds of having high levels of coronary artery calcification scores - which may be an indicator of subclinical atherosclerosis.

Researchers analysed data from 9,420 participants with the average age 65 with 57 percent women.

They looked at two types of hormones: thyroid-stimulating hormone and free thyroxine (known as FT4) and their link to atherosclerosis and death due to coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease or other artery-related illness.

FT4 is a hormone produced by the thyroid gland that helps control the rate at which the body uses energy.

Atherosclerosis is the process of progressive thickening and hardening of the walls of arteries from fat deposits on their inner lining.

After a median follow-up of 8.8 years, they noted that 612 atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular deaths and 934 first-time atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular events.

Increasing FT4 levels is linked to 87 percent greater risk of suffering an atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular event, double the risk of atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular death.

Lead study author Arjola Bano from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands said, "We expected that thyroid function would influence the risk of developing atherosclerosis by affecting cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure. However, our results remained very similar after accounting for several cardiovascular risk factors."

"Future studies should clarify the exact mechanisms that can explain the link between thyroid function and atherosclerosis. This could help to identify potential targets for future preventative strategies," Bano stated.

The research is published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.