Can the drugs being used for thyroid disorders also treat anemia? Thyroid dysfunction and anemia are common disorders. Their frequency increases with advancing age.
A recent clinical trial has explored the effectiveness of a drug used in the management of thyroid disease for treating anemia in older patients.
Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the thyroid gland does not produce an adequate amount of thyroid hormone needed for normal body function. Anemia is a condition in which you lack enough healthy red blood cells to carry an adequate amount of oxygen to your body's tissues. Anemia results in low hemoglobin levels. Hemoglobin is a protein found in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body.
Both of these conditions are common and can coexist in old age. The symptoms of both hypothyroidism and anemia are frequently nonspecific and of similar nature (e.g., fatigue, malaise, shortness of breath, and exercise intolerance).
Levothyroxine is a medication that is commonly used to treat hypothyroidism. There has been some evidence that levothyroxine can also increase blood hemoglobin levels however, strong clinical data on this topic is not available.
A recent clinical trial has attempted to solve this mystery by evaluating the effectiveness of levothyroxine in correcting anemia in hypothyroid patients.
The clinical study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism is an analysis of two clinical trials. It involved 669 participants, aged 65 years or older, suffering from reduced thyroid gland function. 332 patients were given levothyroxine while 337 patients received a placebo. Hemoglobin levels of these patients were checked at the start of the clinical trial and after 12 months.