Objective: The beneficial effect of myo-inositol plus selenium (myo-ins +Se) in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) has been recently investigated. In everyday practice, six-month supplementation of myo-ins + Se seems to be adequate for obtaining a therapeutic effect. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of oral myo-ins + Se treatment at different timepoints in patients with SCH.
Patients and Methods: 52 patients with SCH meeting the inclusion criteria were selected to enter the study. Patients were given six month follow-up with or without myo-ins + Se treatment, consisting in two visits at 3 and 6 months, after an initial visit. Endpoints were serum TSH, fT3, fT4, TPOAb and TgAb levels.
Results: A significant decrease of TSH levels in the treated group was observed from baseline to T1 (4.38 ± 0.31 to 3.42 ± 0.3 mIU/ L, p≤0.05) and T2 (4.38 ± 0.31 to 3.11 ± 0.2 mIU/L, p≤0.0001). In the treated group the levels of thyroid hormones had a progressive increment from the baseline until the end of the study. Reduction of TgAb levels was observed in treated group since the first timepoint, whereas in controls was observed a continuous increment. TPOAb decreased significantly in treated patients from 229.27 ± 52.89 IU/ml at baseline to 165.80 ± 40.7 IU/ml at T1 (p≤0.05) and 156.77 ± 44.02 IU/ml at T2 (p≤0.05), but not in controls.
Conclusions: In patients with SCH treatment with myo-ins + Se reduced TSH and autoantibodies levels and increased thyroid hormones. An improvement of the hormonal and antibody titer was observed since after 3 months of therapy. However, at least 6 months of myo-ins + Se administration seems to be the most adequate length of treatment of SCH.