Patient-reported outcomes in adequately treated hypothyroidism – insights from the German versions of ThyDQoL, ThySRQ and ThyTSQ

Table 3 Characteristics of the clinical sample with treated hypothyroidism in proven autoimmune thyroid disease and the healthy control group

Sample characteristics	Treated patient group n = 18			Healthy control group n = 18			p-value
	Mean	SD	Range	Mean	SD	Range
Age (years)	32.2	9.60	[18–54]	32.1	8.90	[18–53]	>0.1
Sex (female/male)	16/2			16/2			>0.1
TSH (mU/l)*	1.96	1.42	[0.2 - 5.3]	2.63	0.95	[0.9 - 5.0]	<0.05
fT3 (pmol/l)*	4.28	0.62	[3.2 - 5.6]	4.72	0.83	[3.2 - 6.3]	=0.07
fT4 (pmol/l)*	18.2	1.61	[14–21]	15.6	2.24	[14–23]	<0.001
TPOAb (U/ml)*	140	132	[9–457]	10.2	2.14	[7–14]	<0.001
TgAb (U/ml)*	313	604	[5–2424]	17.3	7.47	[5–36]	<0.001
Treatment duration (years)	4.41	4.21	[1–15]	not applicable
Current dose (μg/day)	96.5	29.6	[50–150]

*laboratory values of initial blood sample, reference range was 0.4-4.0 for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), 3.1-6.79 for free Triiodothyronine (fT3), 12.8-20.4 for free Thyroxine (fT4), < 34 for Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOAb) and < 33 for Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TgAb) [4, 35]. Patients with slightly altered laboratory values that spontaneously recovered to the normal range in a second blood sample taken 3–6 months later were considered as thyroid healthy or adequately treated and included into the analysis. Abbreviaton: SD – Standard Deviation.

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