Element Status of Women of Reproductive Age Living in the North and Having Different Levels of Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone

Introduction: Sufficient amounts of essential macro- and microelements (ME) are necessary to ensure proper regulation of thyroid gland function. Women of reproductive age living in the north of Russia are one of the most vulnerable parts of the population. Objective: To establish the element status of women of reproductive age given the serum thyroid hormone level and to analyze the matrix of correlations between concentrations of macro- and microelements, parameters of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis, thyroid volume, and calculated indices. Materials and methods: In spring 2023, twenty-five female residents (27.28 ± 0.23 years old) of Magadan were examined. Groups 1 and 2 included women with thyroid hormone levels of 0.5–2.0 mU/L (low to normal) and 2.0–4.2 mU/L (normal to high), respectively. Initial data were analyzed by nonparametric statistical methods using IBM SPSS Statistics V21.0. Results: Median concentrations of the elements in the compared groups were not significantly different; in most cases, they corresponded to laboratory values but differed from the region-specific indicators. The highest total element deficiency of 331 % was determined in Group 1 against 216 % in Group 2. The correlation matrices in the surveyed groups differed: in Group 2, thyroid volume (TV) was associated with such thyroid-stimulating elements as Co, Cu, and Zn, while I was associated with TSH antibodies. Free fractions of thyroxine formed bonds with Ca, Co, Cu, Fe, Mg, and Mn in Group 1 only. At the same time, regardless of the serum TSH, the following correlation pairs were found in elemental clusters: Co/Mn, Fe/Al, Fe/Ca, Fe/I, Fe/Li, I/Ca, I/P, Mg/Ca, Mg/V, Mn/Ca, and Zn/P. Conclusion: The low to normal TSH levels established in women of reproductive age were associated with a more severe deficiency of macro- and microelements and the largest number of correlations between them, markers for thyroid function, and integral indices.