conclusions levothyroxine absorption testing over 2 hours may offer a more rapid alternative to the commonly used longer protocols to rule out malabsorption. scheduling a levothyroxine absorption test may induce some patients to start adhering to levothyroxine therapy. patients and methods serum levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (tsh), ft4, and free triiodothyronine (ft3) were drawn at 0, 6...

BACKGROUND In general, hypothyroidism can be adequately treated with a consistent daily dose of levothyroxine. However, the need for levothyroxine dose adjustments is frequent in clinical practice. The extent to which levothyroxine dose adjustments increase the utilization of healthcare resources has not previously been described in the clinical literature. OBJECTIVE The primary objective of ...

CONTEXT Standard therapy for patients with primary hypothyroidism is replacement with synthetic thyroxine, which undergoes peripheral conversion to triiodothyronine, the active form of thyroid hormone. Within the lay population and in some medical communities, there is a perception that adding synthetic triiodothyronine, or liothyronine, to levothyroxine improves the symptoms of hypothyroidism ...

OBJECTIVE To quantify the effect of levothyroxine dose on risk of fractures in older adults. DESIGN Nested case-control study. SETTING Population based health databases, Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS Adults aged 70 or more prescribed levothyroxine between 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2007 and followed for fractures until 31 March 2008. Cases were cohort members admitted to hospital for any f...

BACKGROUND While few hypothyroid patients require more than the expected weight-related dose of levothyroxine, the underlying causes of larger-than-expected dosing requirements have not been studied in a single cohort. Our aim was to determine and quantify the multiple factors contributing to high-dose levothyroxine requirements in a cohort of patients with hypothyroidism. METHODS The Grampia...

OBJECTIVE Subclinical hypothyroidism is a health state that is associated with hypercholesterolemia, infertility, iron-deficiency anemia, and poor obstetric outcome. This article summarizes the results of a prospective clinical investigation of whether treatment of subclinical hypothyroidism and iron-deficiency anemia with a combination of levothyroxine plus iron salt would be superior to each ...

CONTEXT Levothyroxine monotherapy is the treatment of choice for hypothyroid patients because peripheral T4 to T3 conversion is believed to account for the overall tissue requirement for thyroid hormones. However, there are indirect evidences that this may not be the case in all patients. OBJECTIVE To evaluate in a large series of athyreotic patients whether levothyroxine monotherapy can norm...

BACKGROUND Levothyroxine sodium is widely prescribed to treat primary hypothyroidism. There is consensus that levothyroxine should be taken in the morning on an empty stomach. A pilot study showed that levothyroxine intake at bedtime significantly decreased thyrotropin levels and increased free thyroxine and total triiodothyronine levels. To date, no large randomized trial investigating the bes...

INTRODUCTION: Hypothyroidism is six times more common in women, affecting up to 40 in 10,000 each year (compared with 6/10,000 men). METHODS AND OUTCOMES: We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of treatments for clinical (overt) hypothyroidism? What are the effects of treatments for subclinical hypothyroidism? We searched: Med...