The Association Between Hypothyroidism and Anemia: a Clinical Study

Introduction: hypothyroidism is diagnosed by elevated thyroid stimulating hormone (tsh) and normal or decreased serum levels of t4 or t3, and is associated with a wide range of metabolic abnormalities, including anemia. this clinical study aimed to assess the improvement of anemia in patients with primary hypothyroidism following administration of levothyroxine in iranian population. materials & methods: the effect of levothyroxine in 70 patients with hypothyroidism was examined and the improvement of anemia in patients who had a poor or good response to levothyroxine was assessed during a 3 month follow-up.results: three months after treatment, the levels of tsh in 64 patients with hypothyroidism (91.4%) significantly decreased to a normal limit (tsh< 2.5 iu/ml). forty three out of 70 patients (61.4%) had a concurrent anemia. a significant difference was found in the levels of hematologic parameters between those who had a good response (tsh< 2.5 iu/ml) and those with poor responses to the treatment (tsh=2.5 iu/ml) (p< 0.05). conclusions: current study showed a high rate of association between anemia and hypothyroidism in iranian population. improvement in hypothyroidism and its associated anemia was observed in majority of patients (more than 90%), indicating a dual benefit for hypothyroidism treatment. less than 10% of patients poorly responded to levothyroxine, with no clear reasons.