Cardiovascular Risk and Mild Thyroid Hormone Deficiency: Are there some Differences in the Elderly?

Subclinical hypothyroidism (sHT) is a clinical condition defined as\udserum TSH concentration above the upper limit of the reference range\udin the face of normal free T4 (FT4) and free T3 (FT3) levels.\udSubclinical hypothyroidism, the prevalence of which increases with\udage, especially among women, up to almost 20%, encompasses several\udpathological entities, mainly represented by chronic autoimmune\udthyroiditis [1,2]. sHT is often associated to symptoms that resembles\udthose of overt hypothyroidism, although to a lesser extent thus, the\udexpression ‘mild thyroid impairment’ or ‘mild thyroid hormone\uddeficiency’ would be more appropriate for defining such a condition\ud[1]. Nonetheless, the term sHT is recognized worldwide and will be\udutilized in the present editorial. Since 90s, a relationship between sHT\udand increased cardio-vascular (CV) risk (both heart failure and\udcoronary heart disease events) has been reported, although some\udexperiences suggest that the risk may depend on the degree of TSH\udelevation [1,3-5]. Moreover, several reports from elderly population\ud(>65 years old) showed that this relationship seems no longer evident\udin such individuals especially in the oldest old (>85 years old) [6-9]