Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) in abstinent alcoholic men

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Abstract
Chronic alcoholics who had been abstinent from alcohol for > 2 yr were evaluated with the TRH test. The findings suggest the following profound disturbances in the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis: a euthyroid sick syndrome, evidenced by low levels of triiodothyronine (T3), high levels of reverse T3, and normal levels of thyroxine (T4) (this syndrome implies a decreased 5''-deiodination of T4 to T3 and of reverse T3 to its lesser iodinated metabolites), an increased binding capacity for thyroid hormones, evidenced by a decreased T3-uptake value and an increased level of T4-binding globulin and TSH blunting in 31% of patients. Paradoxically, there was a positive correlation between basal T4 and .DELTA. max TSH in subjects with blunted TSH, but baseline TSH levels were reduced in subjects with and without blunted TSH.

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