Table 2.
Changes observed in the specified biochemical thyroid indices (all analyzed as continuous variables) during and at the end of a 9-month duration administration of Aloe vera barbadensis Miller juice in 30 women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis-related subclinical hypothyroidism (HT-SCH), and in a control group of 15 women under no L-T4 therapy or any nutraceutical supplementation.a
| Statistics (P value) b |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline c | 3 Months c | 9 Months c | 3 Mos. vs baseline | 9 Mos. vs baseline | 9 Vs 3 months | |
| Study group | ||||||
| TSH, mU/L | 5.19 ± 0.61 [5.12] | 3.12 ± 1.01; −40% [2.99; −42%] | 2.01 ± 0.57; −61% [1.92; −62%] | 3.1 × 10−6 | 5.6 × 10−6 | 2.0 × 10−6 |
| FT4, pmol/L | 9.63 ± 1.58 [9.17] | 10.67 ± 1.31; +11% [10.53; +15%] | 11.83 ± 1.50; +23% [11.54; +26%] | 0.0073 | 1.8 × 10−6 | 0.71 |
| FT3, pmol/L | 5.29 ± 0.61 [5.22] | 4.38 ± 0.47; −17% [4.37; −16%] | 4.32 ± 0.59; −18% [4.33; −17%] | 4.2 × 10−6 | 3.0 × 10−5 | 0.62 |
| FT4:FT3 ratio | 1.83 ± 0.32 [1.80] | 2.47 ± 0.46; +35% [2.39; +33%] | 2.78 ± 0.63; +52% [2.69; +49%] | 7.1 × 10−6 | 5.5 × 10−6 | 0.035 |
| TPOAb, U/ml | 1020 ± 202 [1021] | 825 ± 183; −19% [777; −24%] | 347 ± 140; −58% [345; −56%] | 0.00034 | 1.7 × 10−6 | 1.8 × 10−6 |
| Control group | ||||||
| TSH, mU/L | 5.44 ± 0.86 [5.40] (P = 0.31) | 5.43 ± 0.78 [5.60] (P = 1.5 × 10−6) | 5.80 ± 1.18 [5.84] (P = 6.4 × 10−8) | 0.92 | 0.35 | 0.23 |
| FT4, pmol/L | 9.58 ± 1.48 [9.04] (P = 0.92) | 9.65 ± 1.46 [9.03] (P = 0.022) | 9.39 ± 1.59 [8.78] (P = 8.6 × 10−6) | 0.89 | 0.73 | 0.64 |
| FT3, pmol/L | 5.31 ± 0.75 [5.25] (P = 0.86) | 5.26 ± 0.71 [5.28] (P = 1.1 × 10−5) | 5.37 ± 0.67 [5.31] (P = 2.8 × 10−6) | 0.82 | 0.85 | 0.66 |
| FT4:FT3 ratio | 1.81 ± 0.26 [1.78] (P = 0.83) | 1.85 ± 0.30 [1.70] (P = 2.4 × 10−5) | 1.75 ± 0.32 [1.69] (P = 5.8 × 10−7) | 0.70 | 0.39 | 0.59 |
| TPOAb, U/ml | 939 ± 140 [930] (P = 0.19) | 914 ± 135 [902] (P = 0.026) | 977 ± 178 [962] (P = 5.8 × 10−7) | 0.79 | 0.58 | 0.33 |
Individual changes are illustrated in Fig. 1.
Difference between means analyzed by ANOVA or Wilcoxon signed rank test for the nongaussian distributed indices (TSH and TPOAb). Statistically significant differences are typed bold-face.
Values in brackets are medians. P values in parentheses refer to the comparison with the study group. Statistically significant differences are typed bold-face.