Quality of life associated with treated hypothyroidism

It’s very important to remind the patients, in addition to these factors, that they need to check their pills on a consistent basis. Look to see if the tablets have Synthroid embossed on them to ensure they’re getting the right product. The FDA has determined that drugs that are classified as therapeutically equivalent can be substituted with the full expectation that the substituted product will produce the same clinical effect and safety profile as the reference product.

• Actually, we would encourage pregnant women to take a prenatal multivitamin with iodine because there is a little concern that iodine intake in the US has dropped.
• Patients with coronary artery disease who are receiving SYNTHROID should be closely monitored for cardiac arrhythmias during surgical procedures.
• TSH lower limit of quantification was 0.2 mIU/L and upper limit of normal was 5.6 mIU/L, as indicated by the shaded area.

HYPOTHYROIDISM MEDICATION1,2*

It also helps your patient pay the lowest possible price for the product you write if it is billed through insurance. SYNTHROID is not indicated for suppression of benign thyroid nodules and nontoxic diffuse goiter in iodine-sufficient patients, as there are no clinical benefits and overtreatment with SYNTHROID may induce hyperthyroidism. The importance of writing “Dispense as Written,” or using the state-specific language for SYNTHROID, is something I discuss with my staff as well. Particularly when SYNTHROID is written in a non-protective manner for the state language. Most, but not all, levothyroxine products have been determined to be therapeutically equivalent by the FDA.

Medical

Data from Asia, Africa, and South America (with the notable exception of Brazil) were lacking or scarce (see below). We noted a wide range of cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs, with a relatively low proportion of double-blind, placebo-controlled RCTs (accounting for around a quarter of the studies reviewed). Many of the randomized studies were prompted by the advent of LT4 + LT3 combination treatment in the early 2000s. One of the largest studies was based on a network of 150 general practitioners 71. All-cause and hypothyroidism-related HCRU and costs were also separately compared between patients who were persistent and who achieved target TSH levels during follow-up vs. those who did not achieve target TSH levels (achievers vs. non-achievers).

It should be noted that we did not seek to determine independently whether the QoL reported for a given study group was truly “good” or “normal”; we relied on the study investigators’ statements and the results of their statistical analyses. Well-being and QoL do not simply equate to adequate material living standards or the absence of disease. QoL has been defined as how an individual’s well-being is affected over time by a disease, disability, or disorder 13,14,15 but can also be viewed as the difference between an individual’s hopes and his/her actual status 16. Hence, QoL is a subjective variable that covers affective, cognitive, and behavioral domains 17,18. This subjectiveness means that inter-individual and inter-group comparisons of QoL (e.g., between actively treated and placebo-treated patients or with general population samples) are problematic 19.

Patient Identification

Researchers only accessed data in the format of a limited data set for which a data use agreement was in place with the covered entities in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. An Institutional Review Board did not review the study since only this limited data set was accessed.

• Most of the patients that participated with healthy, middle-aged women.
• At the American Thyroid Association, part of our motto is optimal thyroid health for all.
• There’s usually T4 molecules to one T3 molecule, and T3 is more active.
• QoL has been defined as how an individual’s well-being is affected over time by a disease, disability, or disorder 13,14,15 but can also be viewed as the difference between an individual’s hopes and his/her actual status 16.
• It’s very important to remind the patients, in addition to these factors, that they need to check their pills on a consistent basis.

• There is no evidence of one being “more safe” or “less safe” than another.
• The study sponsor is also funding the journal’s Rapid Service and Open Access Fees.
• So, as a reminder, SYNTHROID is indicated for the treatment of hypothyroidism.
• However, the health questionnaires did not show a significant impact on the thyroid health or quality of life assessed by the patients themselves.
• While it is possible to be sensitive to certain inactive ingredients in levothyroxine, like lactose or color additives, the amounts are generally so low as to pose few health risks.
• To help us navigate this complex topic, we’re honored to welcome Dr Victor Bernet.

However, there is debate as to whether generic levothyroxine is equally effective as the brand name version, Synthroid, in treating hypothyroidism. Instructions would be to take anywhere from one to maybe three or four pills. Either they had the bottle then or they brought it later, and I looked at it. I was able to arrange to get, in two instances, the pills tested, and I found out they actually had active thyroid hormones in them, which is really a prescription substance. The randomized studies of LT4 + LT3 combination treatment failed to identify marked differences in QoL after a switch from LT4 alone. During combination treatment (with two types of pill to be taken, etc.), most of the investigators felt that the potential benefits for QoL did not provide a clear clinical rationale in favor of LT4 + LT3.

The great majority of studies of patients newly treated with LT4 following a diagnosis of overt hypothyroidism had observational designs (Table 3). Two studies found that QoL was normal (i.e., not impaired, relative to general population samples). Other nonrandomized studies found small but synthroid inactive statistically significant impairments in QoL (using SF-36 and/or the ThyPRO) among LT4-treated patients with overt hypothyroidism, relative to general population samples 68,92.

Comparative Safety of Synthroid and Generics

Even so, ongoing concerns about the safety and efficacy of generic levothyroxine have altered the prescribing practices of some healthcare providers. As such, if the early findings were correct, it would suggest that generic levothyroxine works “less well” in managing thyroid disease. I have patients tell me that because they’ve been told about having problems with conversion.

Do not share this medicine with another person, even if they have the same symptoms you have. AbbVie is not responsible for the privacy policy, the content, or the accuracy of any websites accessed through a link on the SynthroidPro.com site. A link to other websites does not constitute an endorsement of AbbVie or the linked site, its products, or services. Biochemical assessment incorporated measurement of serum TSH, T3, and T4. TSH lower limit of quantification was 0.2 mIU/L and upper limit of normal was 5.6 mIU/L, as indicated by the shaded area.

Family history is very important when talking to these patients because there is a strong predisposition amongst family members in the primary setting to have another family member with hypothyroidism. One of the difficulties of the diagnosis of hypothyroidism is that the signs and symptoms are non-specific to the disease. So, in order to diagnose the disease accurately, given the non-specific symptoms, you must use the TSH level as a screening tool to assist in the family history and signs and symptoms that you have come across.