Study on the correlation between nutrition status and thyroid hormone in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Objective: To investigate the correlation between nutrition status and thyroid hormone in the patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: One hundred and forty-eight COPD patients in stable stage and 30 normal controls were studied. Nutritional parameters,including body mass index (BMI),percentage of normal body mass (NM%),triceps skin-fold thickness (TSF),mid-upper arm circumference (MAC),serum albumin (ALB),and total lymphocyte counts (LYM) were determined. COPD patients were divided into malnutrition group (groupⅠ,47 cases) and non-malnutrition group (group Ⅱ,101 cases) according to these nutritional parameters. Thyroid hormones (including T3,T4 and TSH) were detected by radioimmunoassay method. The correlation between these parameters were analyzed. Results: In contrast to control group and groupⅡ,there were significant differences on BMI,NW%,TSF,MAC,ALB,LYM,T3 and T4 in group Ⅰ(P < 0.01). Except that T4 in control group was higher than group Ⅱ,there were no significant difference on these parameters between the two groups (P > 0.05). Significant correlation was existed between T3 and all nutritional parameters (P < 0.05-P < 0.01),T4 was only linked to albumin (P < 0.05). Conclusions: There is significant correlation between thyronine and nutritional status in patients with COPD.