Effect of betamethasone treatment on iodothyronines and thyroid hormone-binding proteins during controlled nutrition. A study on patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

Forty patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease were divided into four groups. They were given betamethasone (6 mg daily) either iv or orally in combination with either iv or oral administration of nutrients. The glucocorticoid reduced the serum T4 significantly (11-16%) when the nutrition was given iv and the same trend occurred (7-9%) in the orally nutriated groups. Corticosteroids reduced the serum T3 by 20-39%, TSH 29-67%, delta TSH 45-76% and TBG 11-18% and increased the rT3 by 19-66% and the T3-uptake 6-16% irrespective of the mode of administration of the steroids although the changes did not reach statistical significance (P less than 0.05) in all groups. A significant increase of serum TBPA by 24% occurred only in the group receiving both steroids and nutrition iv with only minor or no changes (0-12%) in the other three groups. Except for the serum T4 the results were not influenced by the mode of nutrition (iv or oral).