http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/199874-3016-052.html

Study: Underactive thyroid is not harmful to elderly

December 5, 2004

Very old people with underactive thyroid glands do not experience adverse effects and may even live longer than people of the same age with normally functioning thyroids, Dutch researchers say.

These surprising results, which appeared in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, add fuel to an ongoing debate about whether to screen and treat the elderly for mild thyroid disease.

The dilemma plays down to the doctor-patient level.

For this study, researchers followed 599 people from the time they were 85 years old until they were 89. This constituted the majority of all people living in the Dutch city of Leiden who were born between 1912 and 1914. Each participant had his or her thyroid status measured at the beginning of the study.

As the study progressed, the authors looked at disability in daily life, depression, cognitive function and mortality. Most of the study participants with abnormal thyroid function had underactive thyroids, although some had mildly overactive thyroids. None was treated.

As it turned out, the overactive group had a slightly worse mortality than normal people, although that had been shown before. Those with underactive hormones had even better survival, which was the new finding.

http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/199874-3016-052.html

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