From the Editor-in-Chief of Endocrine Reviews on the Occasion of the 2016 Centennial of the Endocrine Society

摘要

T Edward Kendall on Christmas Day 1914, and its structure was determined allowing its synthesis only a short time later by Charles R. Harington in 1926. Yet, when we consider thyroid health in our patients, promi- nent among the issues that come to mind are the difficulties in achieving patient satisfaction and their sense of well- being on replacement levothyroxine therapy. Patients complain, despite our reassurances that their serum free Ty and TSH levels are “normal,” ie, within the reference range. Indeed, what constitutes a normal TSH level has been controversial for several decades, with uncertain variations related to sex, aging, and other physiological states like pregnancy. Myriad studies confirm that even minor variations in thyroid function, subclinical hypothy- roidism, or subclinical hyperthyroidism may have a sig- nificant impact on mental function, heart, bone, and even on mortality. Insights into these issues have evolved over the past decade with a flurry of research initiatives that begin to clarify the fact and nature of gene mutations and other genetic factors that underlie individual variations in thyroid function.