Effects of L-thyroxine on gastric motility and ghrelin in subclinical hypothyroidism: a prospective study

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Ghrelin, published as a controlled clinical trial.

The aim of this study was to assess gastric motility-related gastric symptoms and levels of ghrelin in patients with SCH compared with those in healthy control subjects and to evaluate the potential effects of l-thyroxine replacement therapy.

Why It Was Studied

Overt hypothyroidism affects the gastrointestinal system.

Limited data are available regarding gastric motility in subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH).

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 6 patients taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults and middle-aged adults, women only.

Twenty premenopausal women with SCH and 20 age- and body mass index-matched healthy control women were enrolled in the study.

All tests were repeated after 6 months when patients were in the euthyroid state.

How the Study Was Run

A time span of 6 months appears in the methods.

The gastroparesis cardinal severity index questionnaire was used to reveal gastrointestinal motility changes, and electrogastrographic activities were measured.

Fasting and postprandial ghrelin levels at 30, 60, and 120 minutes were determined during a mixed meal test.

What Was Measured

Overt hypothyroidism affects the gastrointestinal system.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Dyspepsia, Eating, Electrophysiology, Gastric Emptying, Ghrelin, Hypothyroidism and Premenopause.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a controlled clinical trial of Ghrelin in 6 patients over 6 months.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2013 (The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Ghrelin compound page, all human trials.