Abstract
In the last years, levothyroxine (LT4) has been commercialized also in liquid formulation, which is less sensitive to the factors known to reduce the absorption of tablet LT4. To date, there is no robust information that liquid LT4 can improve pharmacologic thyroid homeostasis of patients with reduced efficacy of tablet LT4. This analysis aimed at achieving solid evidence that switching thyroxine treatment from tablet to liquid preparation improves patients' TSH levels. The search was performed in PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus database based on the terms "thyroid," "levothyroxine," and "liquid," and updated until September 25, 2017. Studies were included only if they described patients with suboptimal TSH on tablet LT4, subsequently switched to liquid LT4. The literature search retrieved 462 articles and six were finally included. The pooled mean difference of TSH value between tablet and liquid LT4 was 4.23 mIU/L (95% CI from 3.69 to 4.77). Mild heterogeneity was found (I2 60%). Overall mean difference of TSH was significant (p < 0.0001). The present meta-analysis showed that patients with suboptimal TSH on tablet LT4 can have a significantly improved TSH by switching to liquid LT4 formulation at unchanged dose.
Highlights
RationaleLevothyroxine (LT4) is one of the most prescribed drugs worldwide and is characterized by a narrow therapeutic index [1]
Prospective Patients with subclinical hypothyroidism treated with tablet LT4 not reaching optimal
Here, we are confident to exclude a carryover effect because we considered in our analysis only TSH value on tablet LT4 and 2 months after the switch to liquid formulation
Summary
Levothyroxine (LT4) is one of the most prescribed drugs worldwide and is characterized by a narrow therapeutic index [1] This drug would require a careful dose individualization [2, 3] to avoid side effects of iatrogenic hyper- and hypothyroidism, even in their subclinical form [4]. Several factors may influence the achievement of the target TSH Some of these are patient/physician dependent, such as the prescribed dose, the LT4 intake schedule, and the patient’s compliance [9]. There is no robust information that liquid LT4 can improve pharmacologic thyroid homeostasis of patients with reduced efficacy of tablet LT4. This analysis aimed at achieving solid evidence that switching thyroxine treatment from tablet to liquid preparation improves patients’ TSH levels
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