Introduction: Increased incidence of dyslipidemia was found in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (ScH) with positive anti-TPO antibodies. However, there are no studies which evaluate the effect of thyroid substitution therapy on lipids in these patients. Aim: To evaluate the effect of the presence of anti-TPO antibodies on lipid parameters in patients with mild form of ScH treated with levothyroxine. Materials and methods: Fifty-seven patients with newly diagnosed subclinical hypothyroidism (ScH) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels below 10 mIU/L, who met the treatment criteria, were included in the study. Lipid parameters and anti-TPO antibodies were evaluated at the first visit and only lipids after 5 months euthyroid stage. Results. The average value of TSH in patients was 8.1 ± 1.9 mIU/L. The euthyroid state was achieved with a mean dose of 60.8 ± 19 μg in a mean durat ion of 7.5 ± 2.2 months. Thyroid substitution therapy significantly decreased total cholesterol and LDL-C, and increased HDL-C. TSH positively correlated with total cholesterol (r = 0.147, p < 0.05), and FT4 statistically significantly positively correlated with HDLC (r = 0.197, p < 0.05). The lipid parameters did not respond to L-T4 treatment in patients with negative anti-TPO antibodies, while a decrease in total cholesterol, total cholesterol/HDL-C, and LDL-C/HDL-C was observed in patients with positive anti-TPO antibodies. Conclusion: Patients with mild ScH and positive anti-TPO antibodies with high cholesterol levels may benefit from thyroid substitution therapy. Keywords: subclinical hypothyroidism, dyslipidemia, thyroid autoantibodies, thyroid substitution therapy
Nakova et al. (Thu,) studied this question.