Impaired Action of Thyroid Hormone Associated with Smoking in Women with Hypothyroidism

Thyroid dysfunction and cigarette smoking are both common in the general population, with prevalences of about 10 percent 1 and 30 percent, 2 respectively. The influence of cigarette smoking on thyroid function is controversial. Both decreased and increased thyroid function 3 – 6 and a goitrogenic effect 4 , 7 have been described in smokers in some studies, but in others smoking has had no effect on thyroid function 8 or thyroid size. 9 These studies presumed a direct effect of constituents of cigarette smoke on the thyroid gland, since some components of tobacco smoke (e.g., nicotine, thiocyanate, hydroxypyridine metabolites, and benzpyrenes) have been reported to interfere with . . .