Thyroid-stimulating hormone within the normal reference range has a U-shaped association with the severity of coronary artery disease in nondiabetic patients but is diluted in diabetic patients.

Abstract

Too high or too low thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) has been associated with the progress and prognosis of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, whether TSH within its normal reference range plays a role in the severity of CAD remains unclear. In this observational study, we explored the potential relationship of hypersensitive TSH (hs-TSH) with the severity of CAD in euthyroid patients with or without diabetes mellitus. A total of 7357 CAD patients with euthyroidism were enrolled in this study. Of those, 1997 had diabetes mellitus. The severity of CAD was evaluated through the presence of myocardial infarction (MI) and the severity of coronary lesions, which was calculated using the Gensini score (GS). Logistic regression models treating hs-TSH as a categorical variable and restricted cubic spline analyses treating it as a continuous variable were used to evaluate the associations of hs-TSH with the severity of CAD. The propensity score matching method was used to further validate the differences between diabetic and nondiabetic patients. CAD patients with diabetes mellitus had lower levels of hs-TSH (1.6 (0.97-2.53) vs 1.67 (1.00-2.64)) in serum compared with CAD patients without diabetes mellitus. Meanwhile, hs-TSH was independently related to the severity of CAD. In CAD patients with vs without diabetes mellitus, the U-shaped relationship between hs-TSH and MI was more prominent in patients without diabetes mellitus, and the significant U-shaped association between higher GS and hs-TSH remained only in nondiabetes. Therefore, hs-TSH within the normal reference range has a U-shaped association with the severity of CAD in nondiabetic patients, which is markedly diluted in diabetic patients.