Plasma levels of lipoproteins and apolipoproteins in congenital hypothyroidism: Effects of l-thyroxine substitution therapy

Thyroid status in humans is an important factor in the regulation of lipoprotein metabolism. There are several data on hypothyroidism in the adult population, but less information is available about congenital hypothyroidism. Since lipid metabolism at birth is substantially different from that of adults, it is not likely that the same abnormalities that occur in adult hypothyroidism are also present when this is diagnosed at early life. We studied 16 subjects with congenital hypothyroidism, seven at the time of diagnosis and also after normalization of thyroid hormone levels over a period of 2.0 +/- 1.0 months of substitution therapy with L-thyroxine (5.9 +/- 1.2 micrograms/kg/d) and nine a…