Link of hypo and hyperthyroidism to Parkinson's Disease.

[diogenes]

I almost apologise for posting this article's rather gloomy findings. It makes getting the best dose regimen for such patients an even greater priority.

Front. Endocrinol., 04 May 2022 | doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2022....

Thyroid Dysfunction and Risk of Parkinson’s Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Nipith Charoenngam1,2*, Thanitsara Rittiphairoj3, Ben Ponvilawan4 and Klaorat Prasongdee5

1Department of Medicine, Mount Auburn Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, United States

2Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

3Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States

4Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

5Department of Medicine, MetroWest Medical Center, Framingham, MA, United States

Objective: Studies have suggested that patients with thyroid dysfunction may have an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the results from existing studies are inconsistent. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association of hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism with risk of PD using the method of systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: Potentially eligible studies were identified from Medline and EMBASE databases from inception to December 2021 using search strategy that comprised of terms for “Thyroid” and “Parkinson’s Disease”. Eligible cohort study must consist of one cohort of patients with hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism and another cohort of individuals without hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism. Then, the study must report effect estimates with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) comparing incident PD between the groups. Eligible case-control studies must include cases with PD and controls without PD. Then, the study must explore their history of hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% CIs of the association between presence of hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism and PD must be reported. Point estimates with standard errors were retrieved from each study and were combined together using the generic inverse variance method.

Results: A total of 3,147 articles were identified. After two rounds of independent review by three investigators, 3 cohort studies and 6 case-control studies met the eligibility criteria and were included into the meta-analysis. Pooled analysis showed an increased likelihood of PD in both patients with hypothyroidism (pooled OR 1.56; 95%CI, 1.38 – 1.77; with moderate heterogeneity, I2 66.9%) and patients with hyperthyroidism (pooled OR 1.57; 95%CI, 1.40 – 1.77; with insignificant heterogeneity, I2 0.0%). Funnel plots for both meta-analyses were fairly symmetric, which did not indicate presence of publication bias.

Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis found a significant association of both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism with an increased risk of PD.

[Yeswithasmile]

Thank Diogenes. I have posted this on the Parkinson’s forum too. I do hope that’s ok?

I wonder about Essential tremors too. 🤷‍♀️

Thanks again.

[Musicmonkey]

I can understand your hesitation in sharing negative news, but of course we need to know. Thanks for sharing

[humanbean]

I'm slightly puzzled by this. I was under the impression that

a) Thyroid disease is far more common in women than men,

and

b) Parkinson's Disease is more common in men than women.

(The ratio is 3:2 Men:Women according to Wikipedia.)

[UrsaP]

Thank you for continuing to keep us all informed.

My sister had Parkinsons, she was diagnosed in her late 40’s but clearly had it for some time before. She was never diagnosed with a thyroid condition, though I suspect she was to some degree hypoT. (Other family had hypEr and TC) Sadly this sister passed away at 62, last year, with oesophageal cancer.

Is it possible to have varying degrees of severity of congenital hypothyroidism?

Does anyone really know the extent of the impact of thyroid dysfunction on other conditions and illnesses, when thyroid hormones affect just about everything in our bodies? It is good to see such documentation as this showing possible risks and links.

[helvella Administrator]

I'd noticed that I was not hearing Paxman well on University Challenge. But what I found odd was that the rest were impressively clear. And when he did things other than asking questions, sat behind his desk, he was much clearer.

Because it therefore seemed to be a microphony issue, I complained. The reply was a bit less than sympathetic to my ears! It was only about a year afterwards that his illness became public. I suspect the person who replied knew.

(I still think the microphony is not good on him. Though willing to give him, personally, much credit for sticking at it.)

[helvella Administrator]

I think if my ears were better, I might not have noticed so much.

Not that I am particularly deaf - but there is a big notch in my hearing spectrum. And that means I tend to miss sharp sounds, sibilance, etc.