Patients were given a TSH test three times during follow-up and showed significantly lower TSH levels compared with controls, according to Dr. Meyerovitch.
Dr. Meyerovitch acknowledged that the data he and his team used did not include the reason for a TSH evaluation, nor why patients began levothyroxine treatment. This leaves unanswered questions about the initial baseline mortality risk in patients included in the study.
“This may have resulted in treatment of patients with a higher risk, since we don’t know the reason for the treatment,” he said. “There may have been other reasons that were not included in the database that caused the physician to treat with levothyroxine.”
Details on the cause of death were not included.