Higher thyroid function is associated with accelerated hippocampal volume loss in Alzheimer's disease

Background: In epidemiological studies, higher thyroid hormone (TH) levels have been associated with lower brain volume and increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in elderly individuals. However, the relationships between serum THs and hippocampal atrophy rates have previously not been investigated. Methods: A prospective study of patients with AD (n = 55), stable mild cognitive impairment (sMCI; n = 84) and healthy controls (n = 29) recruited at a single memory clinic. We investigated whether serum THs were associated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-estimated hippocampal volumes at baseline and with longitudinal alterations, defined as annualized percent changes. Results: Serum levels of free triiodothyronine (FT3) and FT3/free thyroxine (FT4) ratio were reduced in AD and sMCI patients compared with the controls (p < 0.05). Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that higher serum FT3/FT4 ratio was associated with greater baseline hippocampal volume in all study groups. Only in AD patients, higher serum FT4 was associated with lower baseline volume of the left hippocampus. Finally, exclusively in the AD group, higher serum levels of FT3 and FT3/FT4 ratio, and lower serum TSH levels, were associated with greater annual hippocampal volume loss. Conclusions: In all study groups, FT3/FT4 ratio was related to baseline hippocampal volume. However, only in AD patients, higher levels of THs were associated with greater annual loss of hippocampal volume, suggesting that excessive TH levels exert a deleterious effect on the hippocampus in the presence of existing AD neuropathology.

Automated summary

This study found that higher thyroid hormone levels were associated with lower brain volume and increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in elderly individuals. However, the relationship between serum thyroid hormones and hippocampal atrophy rates has not been previously investigated. The results showed that FT3/FT4 ratio was related to baseline hippocampal volume in all study groups, but only in AD patients, higher levels of thyroid hormones were associated with greater annual loss of hippocampal volume.