Background: The association between arterial stiffness increasing and mortality in patients with arterial hypertension (AH) is well recognized. There is ongoing debate whether subclinical thyroid failure may exert deleterious effects on the cardiovascular system with the consequences of increased morbidity and mortality. The OBJECTIVE of our study was to examine influence subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) on arterial stiffness in women with arterial hypertension.

Methods: 40 females with AH (20 pts with normal thyroid function (control) and 20 with SCH underwent brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (PWVba) measurements for evaluation of arterial stiffness. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level was 4.01–10.0 mU/ml in SCH patients. Mean FT4 was respectively 14.8±2.0 and 15.2±2.8 pmol/L in control and SCH group (p=0.298).

Results: Hypothyroid patients demonstrated higher PWVba (15.0±2.4m/s vs 13.3±2.3m/s, p=0.016). There were no differences in age (65.1±6.9 years vs 64.5±6.7 years, p=0.397) and systolic pressure (135.7±19.0 vs 137.2±18.2, p=0.401) between SCH patients and controls.

Conclusions: Subclinical hypothyroidism is associated with changes in arterial stiffness. Significant changes of arterial stiffness were observed in subjects with TSH 4.01–10.0 mU/ml suggesting that even early stage of thyroid failure is associated with increased cardiovascular risk.