{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T16:40:32Z","timestamp":1791996032422,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Bioscientifica","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,4,1]],"date-time":"2018-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1522540800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["ec.bioscientifica.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>TSH routine testing in hospitalized patients has low efficacy, but may be beneficial in a selected subgroup of patients. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of routine thyroid function tests among patients admitted to internal medicine departments. It is a retrospective study. A randomly selected cohort of hospitalized patients with abnormal thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) blood tests drawn as part of admission protocol. Patient data were collected from the electronic medical files and analyzed for its efficacy. TSH as a screening test was proven unnecessary in 75% (174) of the study population. Leading causes were non-thyroidal illness syndrome, drugs affecting the test results and subclinical disorders. TSH testing was found to be clinically helpful in only 9 patients; however, all of them had other clinical need for TSH testing. We found a clinically abnormal TSH in 20 patients, hypothyroidism in 11 patients and thyrotoxicosis in 9 patients. Low efficacy ascribed to TSH screening test by this study correlates with recent recommendations that indicate TSH screening in admitted patients only with accompanying clinical suspicion. Most probably, the majority of patients found by screening to have thyrotoxicosis have non-thyroidal illness or drug effects so the threshold for FT4 to diagnose overt thyrotoxicosis should be higher than that in ambulatory patients. In elderly patients, clinically relevant TSH disturbances are more frequent and are harder to diagnose, therefore, TSH screening in this group of patients might be beneficial.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1530\/ec-18-0004","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,23]],"date-time":"2018-03-23T14:10:54Z","timestamp":1521814254000},"page":"567-572","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1530\/crossmarkpolicy-10","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Is routine measurement of TSH in hospitalized patients necessary?"],"prefix":"10.1530","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Amir","family":"Bashkin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"1Department of Endocrinology, Galilee Medical Center, Nahariya, Israel"},{"name":"2Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eliran","family":"Yaakobi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"2Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marina","family":"Nodelman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"1Department of Endocrinology, Galilee Medical Center, Nahariya, Israel"},{"name":"2Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ohad","family":"Ronen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"2Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel"},{"name":"3Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Galilee Medical Center, Nahariya, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"416","reference":[{"key":"ref411","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"657","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecl.2007.04.007","article-title":"The nonthyroidal illness syndrome","volume":"36","year":"2007","journal-title":"Endocrinology Metabolism Clinics of North America"},{"key":"ref331","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"46","DOI":"10.1093\/ageing\/afp197","article-title":"Non-thyroidal illness syndrome and short-term survival in a hospitalised older population","volume":"39","year":"2010","journal-title":"Age and Ageing"},{"key":"ref101","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"350","DOI":"10.14310\/horm.2002.1364","article-title":"High TSH and low T4 as prognostic markers in older patients","volume":"11","year":"2012","journal-title":"Hormones"},{"key":"ref201","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"657","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecl.2007.04.007","article-title":"The nonthyroidal illness syndrome","volume":"36","year":"2007","journal-title":"Endocrinology Metabolism Clinics of North America"},{"key":"ref341","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"803","DOI":"10.3949\/ccjm.77a.10056","article-title":"Approach to a low TSH level: patience is a virtue","volume":"77","year":"2010","journal-title":"Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine"},{"key":"ref401","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"453","DOI":"10.1210\/jcem-70-2-453","article-title":"Applications of a new chemiluminometric thyrotropin assay to subnormal measurement","volume":"70","year":"1990","journal-title":"Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism"},{"key":"ref61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ccc.2005.10.001","article-title":"Non-thyroidal illness syndrome is a manifestation of hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction, and in view of current evidence, should be treated with appropriate replacement therapies","volume":"22","year":"2006","journal-title":"Critical Care Clinics"},{"key":"ref161","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4683","DOI":"10.1210\/jc.2012-3849","article-title":"Thyroid function tests and mortality in aged hospitalized patients: a 7-year prospective observational study","volume":"98","year":"2013","journal-title":"Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism"},{"key":"ref371","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4683","DOI":"10.1210\/jc.2012-3849","article-title":"Thyroid function tests and mortality in aged hospitalized patients: a 7-year prospective observational study","volume":"98","year":"2013","journal-title":"Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism"},{"key":"ref251","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mcna.2012.01.007","article-title":"Thyroid physiology","volume":"96","year":"2012","journal-title":"Medical Clinics of North America"},{"key":"ref271","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ccc.2005.10.001","article-title":"Non-thyroidal illness syndrome is a manifestation of hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction, and in view of current evidence, should be treated with appropriate replacement therapies","volume":"22","year":"2006","journal-title":"Critical Care Clinics"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"457","DOI":"10.4158\/1934-2403-8.6.457","article-title":"American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. 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