The British Journal of Psychiatry 133: 211-218 (1978)
© 1978 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
A study of thyroid function in psychiatric in-patients
DG McLarty, WA Ratcliffe, JG Ratcliffe, JG Shimmins and A Goldberg
The prevalence of abnormal serum total thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine
(T3) concentrations were determined in 1,206 in- patients in two associated
psychiatric hospitals. The biochemical pattern of primary hypothyroidism
occurred in five females and one male (prevalence 0.5 per cent), but in
only one patient was the diagnosis clinically obvious. Eight patients (all
female) were clinically hyperthyroid (prevalence 0.7 per cent), of whom six
were previously undiagnosed. There was no evidence that phenothiazines or
benzodiazepine therapy had any significant effect on thyroid hormone
levels. The small differences in thyroid hormone levels between psychiatric
diagnostic groups could be explained by differences in age distribution.