Plasma and serum
were frozen at 80°C for hormonal evaluations. Complete
data on thyroid hormones were available in 968 (92.8%)
participants. For the analyses presented here, participants
who were undergoing chronic treatment with drugs known
to affect thyroid function, including thyroid hormone preparations,
methimazole, propylthiouracil, amiodarone, and
lithium, were excluded, as were those who with low triiodothyronine
(T3) syndrome or nonthyroidal illness (total
number of patients excluded = 17).