Cognitive and affective disorders in hyper- and hypothyreotic elderly patients

Summary A sample of 424 elderly residents (222 men and 202 women) above the age of 70 years, selected randomly from the anagraphic lists of a quartier of Catania (Eastern Sicily) was studied. Serum levels of triiodothyronine (T3), tetraiodothyronine (T4) and thyroidea stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured. The cognitive performance of the subjects was evaluated by the mini mental state examination (MMSE). The affective status was evaluated by using the geriatric depression scale (GDS), where a slight-moderate depression was indicated by a score range of 11 to 20, and a severe depression was established at scores above 20. The patients were classified as euthyroids, hyperthyroids (10 patients), hypothyroids (10 patients) and in state of alerted pituitary (SAP) (40 patients). The prevalence of cognitive disorders varied between 10 and 40 %, although the statistical evaluation proved to be insignificant between the various groups. The total prevalence of slight-moderate and severe depression was in the range of 50 and 53 % in the euthyroid and SAP patients, whereas it reached 70 and 80 % in the hyper- and hypothyroid patients, respectively. The possible interrelationships between thyroid pathologies and mental performances are discussed.