NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new report suggests higher-than-
normal thyroid activity is linked to a greater risk of heart
disease, including irregular heartbeats. People with so-called
subclinical hyperthyroidism have a slightly-overactive thyroid
-- a gland at the front of the neck responsible for regulating
metabolism by releasing certain hormones. Those people often
don't have the typical signs of full-on hyperthyroidism, such as
increased appetite, restlessness and fatigue -- so the condition
may frequently go undiagnosed. Because many patients just
outside the normal range are older and their thyroid function
and hormones can naturally fluctuate, doctors have wondered
whether or not it's helpful to treat them with thyroid drugs.
"There's been a discussion by many of us about what we should do
with subclinical hyperthyroidism, because the risks were
unclear," said Dr. Nicolas Rodondi from the University of Bern,
Switzerland, who worked on the report. Slightly-overactive or
underactive thyroids are much m