Thyroid Function Tests Assessment in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

BACK GROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the term used to describe slowly progressive airways obstruction, usually associated with smoking, that is not reversible and associated with lifelong morbidity with metabolic and several endocrine disturbances.

AIM OF STUDY: To evaluate thyroid function tests (TFT) in patients with COPD.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Pulmonary function test (PFT) was done to 40 patients with obstructive lung disease and twenty age and sex matched healthy control individuals to confirm diagnosis of COPD and assess the severity of disease.

For all these patients SPO2 with oximetry was measured and TT3, TT4 and TSH were assessed with ELISA test.

RESULTS: The values of PFT (vital capacity, forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1s and peak expiratory flow), TSH and SPO2 were lower in the COPD than control group (P value 0.001).

In severe COPD (FEV1 < 50%) there was a significant reduction in T3 but not T4 or TSH in comparison with mild-moderate COPD patients.

 CONCLUSION: Thyroid dysfunction is observed in patients with COPD, and with increasing severity of COPD, there is a decrease in all thyroid function parameters pointing to a metabolic response, and patients with lower weight indices have lower drive for TSH and consequently T3..