The Study
Thyroid test abnormalities in traumatic brain injury: correlation with neurologic impairment and sympathetic nervous system activation.
This study looked at people with head injuries and noticed that their thyroid tests changed depending on how hurt they were. But it didn’t test if the thyroid changes caused the problems — it just saw that they happened together.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
After a serious head injury, the body's stress system can mess with the thyroid, and how bad the brain injury is, matches how bad the thyroid problem gets.
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 520 / 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.
- 1Yes — the worse the brain injury, the more the thyroid is affected, which may help doctors predict recovery.
- 2Not specified
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The American journal of medicine
Year
1988
Authors
P. D. Woolf, Louyse A. Lee, Robert W. Hamill, Joseph V. McDonald
Related Content
Claims (4)
When your body releases a lot of adrenaline due to stress or other triggers, it might cause your thyroid to flare up—even if you don't feel stressed at all.
When people suffer a serious head injury, their thyroid hormone levels often change in a way that matches how badly their brain is hurt—and these changes can predict how well they’ll recover.
After a serious head injury, the body's stress system might mess with the thyroid gland, which could explain why some people have hormone problems afterward.
When someone suffers a serious head injury, their thyroid gland often stops working normally right away, and the worse the brain injury, the more the thyroid is affected—suggesting the brain and thyroid might be connected in how they respond to trauma.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.