Screening for thyroid disease in sick adults.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P Bourdoux.
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At the end of a multifactorial cardiovascular preventive trial serum thiocyanate was measured in random samples of 1035 cases and 1087 controls. A cut-off point 0.45 mg/dl (77.6/mumol/l) gave a sensitivity of 82.1% among the cigarette smokers in the control group and a specificity of 91.0% among the non-smokers. When the intervention and control groups are compared in terms of self-reported smoking behaviour non-significant differences in mean thiocyanate concentration are observed for those who never smoked, ex-cigarette smokers, actual cigarette smokers, and in four different cigarette smoking categories. Our results fail to confirm the reported pessimistic views concerning the validity of self-reported smoking behaviour in subjects taking part in intervention trials.
The effects of a 4-day isocaloric isoprotenic dietary replacement of carbohydrate by fats were studied in six healthy subjects, the experimental diet being preceded and followed by a 3-day period of balanced diet. During the ketogenic regimen, the concentrations of fat derived substrates (free fatty acids, glycerol and 3-hydroxybutyrate) rose significantly and glucose levels decreased by 16.5 +/- 3.2% (mean +/- SEM). The hormonal pattern switched towards a catabolic mode with a fall in insulin levels (-44.0 +/- 6.3%) and a rise in glucagon concentration (+39.0 +/- 10.4%). A significant fall in triiodothyronine and rise in reverse triiodothyronine were observed, while thyroxine levels remained unchanged. The average levels of the most important gluconeogenic amino acids (alanine, glutamine, glycine, serine and threonine) were reduced by 8-34% while those of the branched chain amino acids increased by more than 50%. Since these changes reproduce those observed after a few days of total fasting, we suggest that it is the carbohydrate restriction itself which is responsible for the metabolic and hormonal adaptations of brief fasting.
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The relationship between maternal thyroid function and newborn thyroid function was studied in a region of very severe endemic goiter (Ubangi, Republic of Zaïre). T4, T3, and TSH concentrations were measured in the sera of 56 mothers (at the time of delivery) and 60 newborns (in the cord). The results obtained in these groups (untreated) were compared with those obtained in two control groups, comprising 53 mothers whose iodine deficiency had been corrected by the injection of iodized oil and 68 neonates born to such mothers. The results show that the mean (+/- SEM) T4 serum concentration (micrograms per dl) was 11.5 +/- 0.7 in the untreated mothers compared with 15.7 +/- 0.7 in the treated mothers (P less than 0.001), and 9.4 +/- 0.8 in the untreated newborns compared with 12.4 +/- 0.5 in the newborns of treated mothers (P less than 0.01). The values observed for the mean T3 serum concentrations (nanograms per dl) in the same groups were 171 +/- 10 and 154 +/- 9 (mothers; P greater than 0.05) and 68 +/- 6 and 55 +/- 6 (newborns; P greater than 0.05); the mean TSH serum concentrations (microunits per ml) were 8.7 (7.6 - 9.9) and 5.4 (4.9 - 5.9; mothers; P less than 0.001) and 19.6 (16.6 - 23.2) and 6.4 (5.8 - 7.0; newborns; P less than 0.001). The proportion of untreated newborns, i.e. 40%, with individual TSH values deviating by more than 2 SDS above the mean of the treated newborns is much greater than the corresponding proportion, i.e. 15%, of untreated mothers in relation to the treated ones. In 6 out of 34 untreated newborns, definite biochemical signs of congenital hypothyroidism were observed. Correlation coefficients were calculated between the untreated subjects. A positive correlation coefficient of 0.80 (P less than 0.001) was observed between the serum T4 concentrations of the mothers and those of the newborns, and one of 0.61 (P less than 0.001) was observed between their respective serum TSH values. Significant inverse correlations were observed between maternal serum T4 and cord serum TSH (-0.79; P less than 0.001) and between cord T4 concentrations and maternal TSH concentrations (-0.57; P less than 0.01). No definite trend is observed between the variations of serum T3 on one hand, and those of serum T4 or serum TSH on the other hand. Out of 51 mothers in whom serum T4 was determined, 11 showed values below 8 micrograms /dl; the newborns of those mothers showed very low serum T4 values (5.5 +/- 1.6 micrograms/100 ml) and extremely high serum TSH levels [144 (98-210) microU/ml]. It is concluded that, contrary to the situation observed in physiological conditions, maternal thyroid function in regions of severe endemic goiter is a good indicator of newborn thyroid function. The reasons for this probably lie in the influence of environmental factors acting simultaneously on the mother and the fetus.
The role of cassava was investigated in particularly severe endemic goiter area (Ubangi). Dietary intake of cassava induces an increase of plasma thiocyanate concentration and an increase of urinary excretion of stable iodine. Generalized iodine deficiency induces very high thyroid uptakes; the other parameters of thyroid function are more or less affected according to the dietary intake of thiocyanate. When thiocyanate intake is high an adaptation is obtained only at the expense of a drop of plasma T4 level and very high increase of plasma TSH.
Severe goiter, cretinism, and the other iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) have their main cause in the lack of availability of iodine from the soil linked to a severe limitation of food exchanges. Apart from the degrees of severity of the iodine deficiency, the frequencies and symptomatologies of cretinism and the other IDD are influenced by other goitrogenic factors and trace elements. Thiocyanate overload originating from consumption of poorly detoxified cassava is such that this goitrogenic factor aggravates a relative or a severe iodine deficiency. Very recently, a severe selenium deficiency has also been associated with IDD in the human population, whereas in animals, it has been proven to play a role in thyroid function either through a thyroidal or extrathyroidal mechanism. The former involves oxidative damages mediated by free radicals, whereas the latter implies an inhibition of the deiodinase responsible for the utilization of T4 into T3. One concludes that: 1. Goiter has a multifactorial origin; 2. IDD are an important public health problem; and 3. IDD are a good model to study the effects of other trace elements whose actions in many human metabolisms have been somewhat underestimated.
Zinc is an essential trace element, and constituent of many metallo-enzymes required for normal metabolism. Age may be associated with altered metallothionein metabolism related to changes in zinc metabolism. The objectives of this study were: (i) to assess the prevalence of zinc deficiency among hospitalised elderly patients; (ii) to define the social, functional, pathological and nutritional characteristics of zinc deficient elderly hospitalised patients; and (iii) to assess the relationship between the zinc status and humoral immune function among hospitalised elderly patients. Fifty consecutive patients underwent comprehensive geriatric assessments included evaluations of the medical (index of the severity of the disease(s)), psychiatric (Geriatric depression scale (GDS)), therapeutic, social, functional (Katz's scale), and nutritional problems (Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and biochemical markers (zinc, albumin, prealbumin (PAB), cholesterol) before their discharge. Fourteen patients (28%) presented a zinc concentrations lower than 10.7 micromol/l, this value is usually considered as the cut-off level below which a zinc deficient status is possible. Higher proportions of respiratory infections, cardiac failure, and depression were observed among zinc deficient patients as compared with the group of patients with normal zinc status. The other parameters of comprehensive geriatric assessment did not allow to discriminate the zinc deficient patients. The only slight differences (which remained unsignificant) concerned the prealbumin levels which tended to be higher in the group of patients presenting normal zinc status than in the group with poor zinc status (0.208+/-0.062 versus 0.171+/-0.068 g/l respectively, P=0.06), and the IgG2 levels which tended to be lower in the group of patients with normal zinc status than in the group presenting poor zinc status (2.77+/-1.91 versus 4.06+/-2.56, respectively, P=0.057). A negative correlation was observed between the Zn concentrations and the IgG2 levels (Spearman R=-0.311, P=0.028). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study presenting zinc status according to a comprehensive geriatric assessment among European hospitalised geriatric patients. We decided to perform this study to known whom of our patients needed to be supplemented with zinc administration. Considering the low energy intake of hospitalised patients (confirmed here in regards of the nutritional assessment), and the insufficient trace element density in European foods, the relevance of providing medical supplements or enriched foods to this population has to be evaluated. Although most of the current diseases may be relevant to long-term interactions between nutrition and ageing, certain states observed in the elderly, like impaired immune and cognitive functions, could still benefit from an appropriate nutritional supplementation.
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Iodine deficiency disorders are major problems in most developing countries. According to WHO more than one billion people worldwide are at risk for iodine deficiency. However, prophylaxis programs based on the distribution of iodized salt have been unsuccessful in developing countries for socioeconomic reasons. We tested the efficacy of iodination of water with sodium iodide incorporated into silicone matrices (Rhône-Poulenc-Rorer-Doma). Nine such matrices were placed into each of the 198 wells supplying more than 90% of the 85,037 inhabitants of the Nana-Grebizi prefecture (figure 1). Efficacy was evaluated by following classical markers of iodine deficiency in representative samples of the population (figure 2): goiter size was measured immediately before (T = 0, n = 3,090) and twelve months after (T = 12, n = 2,645) installation of the matrices; and urinary iodine concentrations were assayed at T = 0 (n = 319), 6 (n = 304) and 12 (n = 261). The prevalence of goiter was 60.9% (visible goiter 10.7%, cretinism 0.7%) and the median urinary iodine concentration was 2.1 (95% confidence interval 2.0-2.3) micrograms/dl. Thus the population suffered from severe iodine deficiency. All villages were severely affected, despite inter-village variations (tables 1 and 2, figure 4). Twelve months after iodination of wells, the overall prevalence of goiter fell to 44.5% (p < 0.0001, table 1 and figure 3) and that of visible goiter to 2.5% (p < 0.0001). With the exception of one village (Bokanzi) the prevalence of goiter decreased by 18.6 to 56.3% (table 1).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)