Research Article
Levothyroxine Timing during Ramadan: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Table 2
Comparison of treatment-related characteristics by the treatment initiation group.
| Characteristics | Treatment initiation time group | | 30 minutes before iftar | 4 hours after iftar | No specific advice |
| Age | 56 (40–65.5) | 48 (39–66) | 49 (37–55) | 0.169 | Gender, n (%) | 0.953 | Male | 6 (20.7) | 4 (17.4) | 5 (18.5) | Female | 23 (79.3) | 19 (82.6) | 22 (81.5) | Cause of hypothyroidism, n (%) | 0.232 | Hashimoto | 15 (51.7) | 11 (47.8) | 9 (33.3) | Postthyroidectomy | 11 (37.9) | 12 (52.2) | 17 (63) | Postradioactive iodine | 3 (10.3) | (0)0 | 1 (3.7) | Other medications use, n (%) | 0.273 | No medications | 18 (62.1) | 16 (69.6) | 22 (81.5) | PPI | 4 (13.8) | 3 (13) | 0 | Calcium | 7 (24.1) | 4 (17.4) | 5 (18.5) | Duration of hypothyroidism (years) | 3 (1–10.5) | 5 (2–11) | 4 (2–12) | 0.311 | FT4 level before Ramadan | 13.6 (11.9–15.8) | 13.7 (12.3–15.4) | 14.23 (12.77 (16.6)) | 0.670 | TSH level before Ramadan | 0.97 (0.55–3.47) | 1.63 (0.54–2.86) | 1.7 (0.53–3.44) | 0.942 | Average levothyroxine dose | 100 (87.5–125) | 107 (75–150) | 125 (100–150) | 0.365 | Compliance to levothyroxine | 100 (100–100) | 93 (73–100) | 100 (93–100) | 0.012 |
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Unless otherwise stated; numbers are presented as median (interquartile range). PPI, proton pump inhibitors; reference range: 9.0–19.0 pmol/L; reference range: 0.35–4.94 mIU/L. |