SAT-437 Influence of Smoking on Thyroid Function in Japanese Subjects: Longitudinal Study for One Year of On-Off Smoking

Recent studies showed that various factors, including age, gender, race, iodine intake, obesity, the thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO-Ab), and/or smoking, influence the thyroid status. In the present study, we analyzed and investigated the effects of these factors, particularly smoking and the thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO-Ab) in Japanese euthyroxinemia individuals with serum free T4 level within normal range. A total of 12,289 subjects who underwent health check-ups were analyzed in a cross-sectional and longitudinal study. The mean age of subjects was 50 ± 10 years (age range: 21–88 years). Serum TSH levels and the prevalence of positivity for TPO-Ab increased with age in Japanese euthyroxinemia subjects. Mean and median serum TSH levels increased with age in smokers and non-smokers, but were significantly lower in smokers than in non-smokers among men and women in most age groups; the median 97.5(th) percentiles of TSH levels were 1.2 mU/liter and 2.9 mU/liter in smokers, and 1.4 mU/liter and 3.9 mU/liter in non-smokers in 31- to 40-year-old men, p<0.01, and 1.4mU/liter and 4.3 mU/liter, and 1.8mU/liter and 6.2 mU/liter in 61- to 70-year-old men, p<0.01. However, smoking had a negligible effect on serum TSH levels in women older than 50 years; 1.3 mU/liter in smokers and 1.6 mU/liter in non-smokers in 31- to 40-year-old women, p<0.01, and 1.5 mU/liter and 1.8 mU/liter in 51- to 60-year-old women, p=0.3. Furthermore, the present study confirmed that serum free T4 levels in men progressively decreased with age, whereas no significant change was observed in women. Smoking did not affect the relationship between age and serum free T4 levels in men or women, except for men in their 20s. Serum TSH levels were significantly higher in subjects with positivity for TPO-Ab than in those with negativity at all ages and in both genders; however, smoking did not affect free T4 levels or the positivity for TPO-Ab. The rate of smokers in men was significantly higher in patients with subclinical hyperthyroidism (25%) than in those with subclinical hypothyroidism (10%, p<0.05). Furthermore, the results of the longitudinal study revealed a significant decrease in serum TSH levels one year after the start of smoking in men (p<0.05). Since smoking appears to lower serum TSH levels in Japanese euthyroxinemia subjects careful consideration of the smoking status is needed when evaluating subclinical thyroid function.