HYPERTHYROXINEMIA OF ACUTE PSYCHIATRIC-ILLNESS

The present study was undertaken to determine the frequency of abnormal thyroid function tests in patients admitted with acute psychiatric illness. Elevated thyroxine (T4) levels were noted in ten (11.4%) of 88 psychiatric patients during short-term admissions and these levels returned to normal by three weeks after admission (P < 0.0001). None of the patients had schizophrenia. There were no patients with hypertriiodothyroninemia. Hypothyroidism was not observed in any of the patients studied. High normal T4 levels were noted on admission in 32 patients (mean T4, 117.46 ± 19.18 mmol/L), and these decreased to a mean of 93.52 ± 18,2 mmol/L three weeks later (P < 0.0001). Five of the patients who showed hyperthyroxinemia on the previous admission were readmitted to the psychiatry unit during the study period because of relapse of their psychiatric illness, but none showed hyperthyroxinemia on the second admission. Hyperthyroxinemia of acute psychiatric illness is a graded phenomenon. Its incidence is unpredictable and may not be reproducible.