Left ventricular performance in subclinical hypothyroidism.

Normal plasma thyroid hormones with elevation of thyrotrophin levels in asymptomatic patients is known as subclinical hypothyroidism. Radionuclide angiography was used to study left ventricular function in 10 such patients before and after establishment of normal thyrotrophin levels with thyroxine. Resting left ventricular ejection fraction was similar in both states but exercise left ventricular ejection fraction was less in the subclinical hypothyroid (61 +/- 3 per cent) compared with the euthyroid (68 +/- 3 per cent; p less than 0.025) state. Sodium nitroprusside caused similar increases in resting cardiac output but in subclinical hypothyroidism this resulted from a large increase in heart rate (26 +/- 4 beats/min) and reduction in stroke volume (11 +/- 4 per cent) whereas in the euthyroid state, the heart rate increment was less (14 +/- beats/min) and stroke volume was unchanged. Analysis of left ventricular pressure-volume relationships at end-systole during exercise showed a steeper pressure-volume slope in the euthyroid compared with the subclinical hypothyroid state (p less than 0.05). Subtle impairment of left ventricular function is detectable in subclinical hypothyroidism and may justify use of hormone replacement.