The Prevalence of Subclinical Thyroid Dysfunction and Its Association With Metabolic Syndrome in Taiwanese Elderly

Results The overall prevalences of the MetS, subclinical hyperthyroidism, and subclinical hypothyroidism were 30.4%, 6.0%, and 2.0%, respectively. The prevalence of subclinical thyroid dysfunction was significantly higher among women as compared with men (9.9% vs. 6.3%, respectively; p < 0.05). Male subjects with subclinical hyperthyroidism had significantly lower body mass index, systolic blood pressure, TC, low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, HDL-C, triglyceride, and number of MetS criteria than female subjects. However, no significant differences for each component of MetS, with the exception of TC and HDL-C, were found between male and female subjects with subclinical hypothyroidism. Conclusion Subclinical thyroid dysfunction would present in about 8% of Taiwanese elderly, and about one-third of them had MetS. Keywords elderly metabolic syndrome subclinical hyperthyroidism subclinical hypothyroidism