According to findings in the open access journal BMC Public Health, there could be a rise in the coronary heart disease mortality amongst younger women. Women aged below 50 years are observed to have a lifestyle inclining to high levels of smoking, increasing obesity and irregular patterns of exercising which have all contributed to this worrying development of coronary heart diseases.
The level of thyrotropin – a hormone produced by the pituitary gland – is increasing in women and it appears to cause higher risks of fatal coronary heart disease.
The relationship between thyrotropin levels and fatal heart disease in 17,311 women and 8,002 men with unknown thyroid disease, cardiovascular disease or diabetes was studied by Bjørn O. Åsvold, M.D. and colleagues of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
During the process of the study it was found that 228 women (1.3 percent) and 182 men (2.3 percent) had died of coronary disease. Bjørn O. Åsvold said, “Of these, 192 women and 164 men had thyrotropin levels within the clinical reference range of 0.5 milli-international units per liter to 3.5 million-international units per liter,” the authors write. Adding, “Overall, thyrotropin levels within the reference range were positively associated with coronary heart disease mortality; the trend was statistically significant in women but not in men”.
The authors have noted that this study reveals that coronary heart disease mortality has gone high in women with increasing levels of thyrotropin within the reference age. It also says that the results have signified that relatively low but clinically normal thyroid function may add to the risk of fatal coronary heart disease.
The study has been supported by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and by the Central Norway Regional Health Authority.