Impaired sensitivity to thyroid hormone correlates to all-cause mortality in euthyroid individuals with chronic kidney disease

Background This study aimed to investigate the association between central sensitivity to thyroid hormones and all-cause mortality in euthyroid patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Methods ​Data on thyroid function indicators and all-cause mortality for CKD patients were extracted from the NHANES database (2007–2012).

Central sensitivities to thyroid hormones were mainly evaluated by Thyroid Feedback Quantile-based Index (TFQI).

The Kaplan–Meier method, Cox proportional hazards regression model and subgroup analysis were performed to explore the potential associations between thyroid hormone sensitivity and all-cause mortality.

Results A total of 1303 euthyroid CKD patients were enrolled in this study.

After a median follow-up of 115 months, 503 participants died.

The Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated significant variations in survival rates among different levels of TFQI ( P  = 0.0015).

Cox regression analysis showed that increased levels of TFQI were independent risk factors for all-cause mortality after adjusting for multiple confounding factors (HR = 1.40, 95% CI 1.10–1.79, P  = 0.007).

Subgroup analysis did not reveal any significant variation in the association between TFQI and all-cause mortality between the subgroups assessed ( P for interaction > 0.05).

Conclusion Our study suggests that impaired thyroid hormone sensitivity might be linked to increased mortality in euthyroid CKD patients.

Further research is needed to confirm and explore this association.