Prevalence of hypothyroidism in Finland--a nationwide prescription study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to estimate the 1-year prevalence of levothyroxine-treated hypothyroidism in Finland.

Methods: Data on all individuals who had regularly purchased levothyroxine sodium tablets during 2007 were retrieved from the nationwide Finnish Drug Prescription Database. The prevalence rates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated per 100 individuals assuming a Poisson distribution.

Associations of sex hormone concentrations with health and life satisfaction in elderly men.

Objective: To analyze associations between sex hormone concentrations and self-rated health and life satisfaction, neuropsychiatric symptoms, or diagnosed depression or dementia in elderly men.

Methods: The study subjects were men from the community-based Lieto Study (N = 517). Subjects were excluded from the study if they were taking exogenous sex hormones or medication for prostate cancer or for benign prostatic hyperplasia or if data for calculating body mass index (BMI) were missing.

Associations of thyroid-stimulating hormone and free thyroxine concentrations with health and life satisfaction in elderly adults.

Objective: To analyze associations between thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4 concentrations and life satisfaction, symptoms, self-rated health, and common neuropsychiatric diseases (depression or dementia) in a community-dwelling elderly population to provide evidence whether to decrease the upper reference limit for TSH or the optimal TSH target in levothyroxine treatment in older adults.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we determined TSH and FT4 concentrations in a thyroid disease-free population of 502 men (median age, 71 years) and 584 women (median age, 73 years) and in a patient group of 49 women (median age, 75 years) with primary hypothyroidism who were stable users of thyroxine treatment. Life satisfaction, self-rated health, depression, and dementia were assessed with specific questions and with tools such as the Self-report Depression Scale and the Mini-Mental State Examination.

Biochemical reference intervals for sex hormones with a new AutoDelfia method in aged men.

Background: Our aim was to establish sex hormone reference intervals measured with a new AutoDelfia immunoassay method for aged men free of medication and/or conditions known to influence sex hormone levels.

Methods: The reference population consisted of 466 individuals between 64 and 97 years (mean 72 years) and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 26.9 kg/m(2).

Actual practice vs guidelines in laboratory monitoring of older patients with primary hypothyroidism in primary care.

Background And Aims: Clinical guidelines are produced in order to achieve an acceptable standard of care, especially for patients with common diseases in primary care. The treatment of primary hypothyroidism serves as an example of the content of clinical guidelines and actual practice. The aim of this study was to compare the follow-up of primary hypothyroidism by thyroid function tests, serum TSH and serum-free T4, in older patients managed in primary care, with recommendations in treatment guidelines and textbooks.

The effect of thyroid antibody positivity on reference intervals for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) in an aged population.

Our aims were: 1) to analyze the effect of the methodology used to derive clinically feasible cut-off values for thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb), which exhibit highly skewed distributions; and 2) to describe the influence of thyroid antibodies on thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) reference intervals among thyroid disease-free aged subjects. The reference population consisted of 1086 individuals with a mean age of 73 years. The impacts of TPOAb and/or TgAb positivity on the reference intervals of TSH and FT4 were evaluated by both including and excluding subjects with elevated thyroid antibodies.