Thyroid testing in primary hypothyroidism

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Thyroid testing in primary hypothyroidism
 
Creator Ambasta, Anshula Grenet, Guillaume Otte, Jessica Thompson, Wade Bassett, Kenneth Perry, Thomas
 
Subject — diagnostic tests; hypothyroidism; mass screening; overdiagnosis; thyroid function tests; pregnancy; thyroid diseases.
Description Thyroid hormones regulate essential metabolic processes and development. The hypothalamic–pituitary–thyroid axis regulates hormone production, with thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels being a key indicator of thyroid function in primary hypothyroidism. This therapeutics letter emphasises a TSH-centred approach to the diagnosis and management of primary hypothyroidism (dysfunction at the level of the thyroid gland) in adults. It discourages routine thyroid function screening in asymptomatic individuals due to a lack of demonstrated benefit and potential harm from overdiagnosis and overtreatment. It outlines appropriate diagnostic strategies, including when to use TSH, free T4 (thyroxine), and free T3 (triiodothyronine) tests, and outlines indications for antibody testing. Special considerations are provided for subclinical hypothyroidism and hypothyroidism during pregnancy.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2025-06-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v17i1.5043
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 17, No 1 (2025); 4 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/5043/8374 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/5043/8375 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/5043/8376 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/5043/8377
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2025 Anshula Ambasta, Guillaume Grenet, Jessica Otte, Wade Thompson, Kenneth Bassett, Thomas Perry https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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