Thyroid axis hormones and anthropometric recovery of children/adolescents with overweight/obesity: A scoping review

Carlos Ramos Urrea; Amanda Paula Pedroso; Fernanda Thomazini; Andreia Cristina Feitosa do Carmo; Mônica Marques Telles; Ana Lydia Sawaya; Maria do Carmo Pinho Franco; Eliane Beraldi Ribeiro

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.1040167

Thyroid axis hormones and anthropometric recovery of children/adolescents with overweight/obesity: A scoping review

Front Nutr. 2023 Jan 13:9:1040167. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1040167. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Carlos Ramos Urrea¹, Amanda Paula Pedroso¹, Fernanda Thomazini¹, Andreia Cristina Feitosa do Carmo², Mônica Marques Telles¹, Ana Lydia Sawaya¹, Maria do Carmo Pinho Franco¹, Eliane Beraldi Ribeiro¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
² Escola Paulista de Medicina, Campus São Paulo Library, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Abstract

Introduction: Thyroid hormones exert multiple physiological effects essential to the maintenance of basal metabolic rate (BMR), adaptive thermogenesis, fat metabolism, growth, and appetite. The links between obesity and the hormones of the thyroid axis, i.e., triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), and thyrotropin (TSH), are still controversial, especially when considering children and adolescents. This population has high rates of overweight and obesity and several treatment approaches, including nutritional, psychological, and physical exercise interventions have been used. Understanding the importance of the hormones of the thyroid axis in the recovery from overweight and obesity may help directing measures to the maintenance of a healthy body composition. The present scoping review was carried out to analyze studies evaluating these hormonal levels throughout interventions directed at treating overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. The main purpose was to ascertain whether the hormones levels vary during weight loss.

Methods: We selected for analysis 19 studies published between 1999 and 2022.

Results: Most of the studies showed that changes in different anthropometric indicators, in response to the multidisciplinary interventions, correlated positively with free T3 (fT3), total T3 (TT3), and TSH. With respect to free T4 (fT4) and total T4 (TT4).

Discussion: The most common finding was of unchanged levels and, hence, no significant association with weight loss. Moreover, thyroxine supplementation has failed to affect the response to the interventions. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the relevance of the variations in hormone levels to the establishment of overweight/obesity and to the recovery from these conditions in children/adolescents.

Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42020203359.

Keywords: adolescent; children; multidisciplinary intervention; obesity; recovery; thyroid hormones.

Publication types

Systematic Review

Grants and funding

This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of São Paulo (CAAE = 17459618.0.0000.5505) and funded by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal do Nível Superior (CAPES). CAPES has no role in the design, analysis or writing of this article.