CJO - Abstract - Mental improvement after replacement therapy with thyroxine plus triiodothyronine: relationship to cause of hypothyroidism

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The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology (2000), 3 : 167-174 Cambridge University Press
doi:10.1017/S1461145700001826 (About doi)
Available on CJO 08 September 2000 (?)
 
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology (2000), 3:167-174 Cambridge University Press
Copyright © 2000 Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum
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Mental improvement after replacement therapy with thyroxine plus triiodothyronine: relationship to cause of hypothyroidism

Robertas Bunevicius a1 and Arthur J. Prange Jr. a2 c1
a1 Institute of Endocrinology, Kaunas Medical University, Kaunas, Lithuania
a2 Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Abstract

We treated 26 hypothyroid women – 11 with autoimmune thyroiditis and 15 who had been treated for thyroid cancer – with their usual dose of thyroxine (T4) or with a regimen in which 50 [mu]g of T4 had been replaced by 12.5 [mu]g of triiodothyronine (T3). Patients were first randomly assigned to one regimen for 5 wk and then to a second regimen for an additional 5 wk. The substitution of T3 for a portion of T4 caused expected changes in concentrations of thyroid hormones and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). After combined hormone treatment there were clear improvements in both cognition and mood, the latter changes being greater. The patients who had been treated for thyroid cancer showed more mental improvement than the women with autoimmune thyroiditis, perhaps because they were more dependent on exogenous hormone. Some mood improvements correlated positively with changes in TSH while others correlated negatively with changes in free T4.

(Received August 15 1999)
(Reviewed November 1 1999)
(Revised November 28 1999)
(Accepted December 7 1999)

Key Words: Thyroxine; triiodothyronine; cognition; mood.

Correspondence:

c1 Address for correspondence: Dr A. J. Prange Jr., Department of Psychiatry, CB no. 7160, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599–7160, USA. Tel.: (919) 966-1489 Fax: (919) 966-6825 E-mail: aprange@css.unc.edu


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