ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Thyroid Endocrinology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1603560
This article is part of the Research TopicHormones and Aging related diseasesView all 12 articles
Association between free T3 and sarcopenia in euthyroid older patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- 2First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, Chongqing Municipality, China
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Purpose: Growing evidence suggests that thyroid hormones play an important role in the process of sarcopenia during aging. The aim of our study was to investigate whether thyroid hormones have an association with age-related sarcopenia in euthyroid geriatric patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT).Methods: A total of 442 euthyroid older patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis were included in this cross-sectional study. Sarcopenia was diagnosed according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2019 criteria. Body composition, grip strength and gait speed were assessed in participants. Concentrations of thyroid hormones were determined by immunoassays. Logistic regression analyses were carried out to assess the association between free T3 (FT3) levels and sarcopenia risk.Results: Compared to non-sarcopenic patients, FT3 levels were found to be lower in the sarcopenic group (2.92 pg/ml vs 3.00 pg/ml, p<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed a significant positive association between FT3 and hand grip strength, gait speed, skeletal muscle mass. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that FT3 levels were independently associated with sarcopenia (odds ratio 0.533 [95% confidence interval 0.343, 0.829], p=0.005) and low gait speed, low hand grip strength, low skeletal muscle index.Conclusion: Higher FT3 levels within normal range was positively associated with skeletal muscle mass, hand grip strength and physical function in elderly euthyroid individuals with HT.
Keywords: Thyroid Hormones, FT3, Sarcopenia, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Elderly 36
Received: 31 Mar 2025; Accepted: 26 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Gao and Xiao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jin-Liang Chen, Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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