Abstract
Age and sex impact prevalence and clinical features of thyroid disease.
Thyroid dysfunction occurs with a higher frequency in elderly patients and
females. Moreover, age alters clinical presentation of hyper- and
hypothyroidism and onset of thyroid hormone (TH) related co-morbidities
leading to increased risk for underdiagnosis and maltreatment in the
elderly. Rodent models allow further insights into mechanisms of age- and
sex-dependent TH action in target tissues. In this review, we summarize
findings from mouse studies showing distinct effects of age and sex on
systemic versus organ-specific TH action and discuss their wider implication
for clinical care.
Key words
age - sex - thyroid hormones - mouse models