The Study
The Association of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone Levels with Cognitive Function and Depressed Mood
This study looked at people's thyroid levels and how they felt or remembered things at one point in time, like taking a snapshot. It found a tiny link between low thyroid levels and feeling a bit less sad in men, but that doesn't mean low thyroid causes less sadness—it could just be coincidence or because of other things like medicine they're taking.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
Scientists checked if the thyroid hormone signal (TSH) in older adults' blood was linked to how well they remembered things or how sad they felt.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 542 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The mood link in men is small and may be random or due to other factors like medication use — it doesn't mean raising TSH will make men less depressed.
- 2In 1,110 people aged 42–99, TSH levels didn't link to memory or thinking scores.
- 3In men only, higher TSH was slightly linked to less sadness (but the effect was tiny).
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The journal of nutrition, health & aging
Year
2009
Authors
D. Kritz-Silverstein, Stephen T. Schultz, L. Pálinkás, D. Wingard, E. Barrett-Connor
Related Content
Claims (5)
Among adults aged 42 to 99, 24% of women and 9% of men use thyroid medication. Most women who take it report doing so for symptoms like fatigue or weight control.
In older adults, thyroid stimulating hormone levels are not linked to cognitive function, even when people taking thyroid medication or antidepressants are removed from the analysis.
In men, lower levels of thyroid stimulating hormone are associated with higher rates of depressed mood, but this link is weak, only statistically significant in one sex, and contradicts previous findings that low thyroid hormone levels are linked to depression.
Among adults aged 42 to 99, the level of thyroid stimulating hormone in the blood is not linked to performance on tests of memory, attention, and mental processing speed, whether considering age group or medication use.
In men aged 42–99 years, higher levels of thyroid stimulating hormone are linked to lower scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, indicating less depressed mood, but this pattern does not occur in women and may be influenced by differences in medication use.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.