Incipient iron deficiency in primary hypothyroidism

Tanveer Hassan Banday, Sadaf Bashir Bhat, Sabreen Bashir Bhat, Shahnawaz Bashir, Shah Naveed

Thyroid Research and Practice 2018 15(3):138-141

Background: Hypothyroidism affects around 1% of general population. Anemia in association with hypothyroidism has been studied since 1881. Iron deficiency has multiple adverse affects on thyroid metabolism. It decreases circulating thyroid hormone concentration, blunts thyrotropic response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and decreases serum triiodothyronine (T3). Objectives: To find the prevalence of iron deficiency in primary hypothyroids. Material and Methods: In our study, 70 patients were selected, out of which 50 were females and 20 were males, who were suffering from hypothyroidism. Iron deficiency in the study group was confirmed at baseline using multiple iron status indicators (serum ferritin, serum iron, total iron-binding capacity and percentage saturation). These patients were between age group 18–65 years. Results: In our study, only 14 patients (20%) manifested with anemia (which was defined as HB < 12 gm/dl), whereas the prevalence of iron deficiency (with or without anemia) was 34.2%), in which 28.5% were females and 5.70% were males, thus showing that prevalence of iron deficiency (with or without anemia) can be higher than iron deficiency anemia itself, which is supported by literature. Conclusion: Iron deficiency was present in a significant portion of patients with primary hypothyroidism. It also concluded that frequency of iron deficiency (with or without anemia) was higher than iron-deficiency anemia.

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