Table 3.

Unrecognized cases of overt hypothyroidism in elderly people at different scenarios

Reference	Place	Sample	Age of participants	Measurements	Frequency of unrecognized cases of overt hypothyroidism (%)
Primary care
Petersen et al40 cross-sectional	Sweden	1154, population based	≥50 years	TSH, FT4	Women: 1.3%
Bemben et al (Part 1)41 retrospective	US	283, retrospective analysis in a Department of Family Medicine	>60 years Range: 60–97 years	TSH, FT4	Men: 1.3% Women: 1.0%
Bensenor et al24 cross-sectional	Brazil	1373, population based	≥65 years	TSH, FT4	Men: 4.8% Women: 3.4%
Outpatient clinics
Nyström et al42 cross-sectional	Sweden	496, users of an outpatient clinic	≥50 years	TSH, FT4	Women: 2.2%
Ward
Nyström et al42 cross-sectional	Sweden	383, inpatients of emergency ward	≥50 years	TSH, FT4	Women: 1.3%
Emergency department
Chen et al43,a retrospective	Taiwan	54,756, hospital admissions at emergency department	Mean age: 75.8 ± 12.8 Range: 27–98 years	TSH, FT4	Overt: 0.1% (men 0.06%, women: 0.04%) Myxedema: 0.01% Only 21% of patients were admitted from the emergency room with an initial impression of primary overt hypothyroidism

Note:

^aAs there are no studies evaluating unrecognized cases of overt hypothyroidism in emergency department only in samples of elderly people, this study (age range 27–98 years) was included; however mean age of subjects was 75.8 ± 12.8 years.

Abbreviations: TSH, thyrotropin or thyroid stimulating hormone; FT4, free-thyroxine.