HYPOTHYROIDISM IN CHILDHOOD. III. THE EFFECT OF WITHDRAWAL OF THYROID THERAPY UPON THE SFRUM CHOLESTEROL. RELATIONSHIP OF CHOLESTEROL, BASAL METABOLIC RATE, WEIGHT AND CLINICAL SYMPTOMS1

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
When thyroid medication was discontinued in hypothyroid children, the serum cholesterol increased greatly in the course of 4-20 wks., reaching levels 98 to 411 mg% above those of the treated period in 15 of 17 cases. In a nephritic patient, the increase was 660 mg% and in a child with an acute bronchitis it was 59 mg%. In normal children, the withdrawal of thyroid medication caused an increase of only 10-64 mg%. The cone, of serum cholesterol reached after withdrawal of therapy in hypothy-roid children usually exceeded pre-treatment levels. The rapidity and regularity of the cholesterol rise showed individual differences in hypothyroid children. The increase of cholesterol after withdrawal of therapy is of considerable diagnostic value in hypothyroid children who have been treated previously since it occurs before the appearance of characteristic clinical changes. In cases in which the B.M.R. could be measured accurately, a reciprocal relationship between the B.M.R. and the serum cholesterol was demonstrated. In some cases a close parallelism between the cholesterol cone, and the body wt. was observed. Changes in the level of serum cholesterol often paralleled the degree of clinical response observed in hypothyroid children under treatment. Although a shift in the cone, of cholesterol may give some indication of the therapeutic effects being attained in a particular patient, no general rule can be made concerning the level of cholesterol which indicates optimal therapy, as there are individual differences in the normal level.