The clinical consequences and diagnosis of hypothyroidism.

Hypothyroidism represents a common disorder especially in older women. Left untreated, it can lead to abnormalities in lipid metabolism and subsequent progression to overt hypothyroidism, with significant clinical consequences of myocardial infarction and stroke. More research needs to be performed to investigate the link between subclinical hypothyroidism and cardiovascular disease risk and to evaluate the health and economic outcomes of randomized trials of TSH screening.