Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Jan 19, 2025; 15(1): 100880
Published online Jan 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i1.100880
Correlation analyse between thyroid hormone levels and severity of schizophrenia symptoms
Wei-Dong Gong, Qi-Hui Jiang
Qi-Hui Jiang, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Hengyang Central Hospital, Hengyang 421000, Hunan Province, China
Wei-Dong Gong, Breast Tumor Surgical Outpatient, Hengyang Central Hospital, Hengyang 421000, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: Jiang QH designed the experiments, performed the experiments, and analyzed the data; Gong WD wrote the paper, revised it, and organized the data.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Hengyang Central Hospital Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The data related to this paper can be obtained from the author on reasonable grounds.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wei-Dong Gong, Breast Tumor Surgical Outpatient, Hengyang Central Hospital, No. 12 Yancheng Road, Hengyang 421000, Hunan Province, China. 18274781070@163.com
Received: September 6, 2024
Revised: October 18, 2024
Accepted: November 21, 2024
Published online: January 19, 2025
Processing time: 103 Days and 1.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The imbalance of hormone levels in the body is closely related to the occurrence and progression of schizophrenia, especially thyroid hormones.

AIM

To study the relationship between triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), free T3 (FT3), free T4 (FT4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and schizophrenia.

METHODS

In this study, 100 schizophrenia patients were selected from our hospital between April 2022 and April 2024. Their clinical data were analyzed retrospectively. Based on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) score, patients were divided into mild (1-3 points, n = 39), moderate (4 points, n = 45), and severe groups (5-7 points, n = 16). Additionally, 55 healthy individuals served as a control group. Venous blood samples were collected to measure T3, T4, FT3, FT4, TSH, and cortisol concentrations, analyzing their relationship with PANSS scores.

RESULTS

The serum levels of T3, FT3, FT4, TSH and cortisol in the schizophrenia group were lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). With the increase of the severity of the disease, the concentrations of T3 and T4 decreased, while the concentrations of TSH and cortisol increased (P < 0.05). The concentrations of TSH and cortisol were positively correlated with the PANSS score, while T3 and T4 were negatively correlated with the PANSS score (P < 0.05). The receiver operating characteristic curve results showed that T3, T4, TSH, and cortisol had good efficacy in the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Logistic results showed that decreased T3 level, decreased T4 level, decreased TSH level and increased cortisol level may be independent risk factors for schizophrenia.

CONCLUSION

Thyroid hormone levels are associated with the severity of schizophrenia symptoms, which can provide new solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia.

Keywords: Thyroid hormone; Schizophrenia; Symptom severity; Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale score; Cortisol

Core Tip: Previous studies have confirmed that hormone imbalance is closely related to the occurrence and progression of schizophrenia, especially thyroid hormone. However, the relationship between thyroid hormone and schizophrenia symptoms is still unknown at this stage. Based on this, this study conducted a retrospective analyse to explore the correlation between thyroid hormone levels and the severity of schizophrenia.