LOW BASAL METABOLISM WITHOUT MYXEDEMA

Abstract

In a study of low basal metabolism following thyrotoxicosis, Thompson and Thompson¹ were impressed by its frequency and by the fact that an underfunction of the thyroid could be demonstrated in only a comparatively small number of cases. Several of the patients appeared to be healthy in spite of low metabolism. These results made it appear desirable to make a study of low basal metabolism in general. A low metabolic rate following toxic goiter has been observed by Elliott,² Jordan³ and Cabot⁴ in a few patients who did not appear myxedematous. Means and Burgess,⁵ in reviewing the basal metabolisms of the first 1,000 subjects on whom such a determination was made at the Massachusetts General Hospital, reported rates of minus 15 per cent or lower in 16 cases exclusive of disorders of the thyroid. Boothby and Sandiford,⁶ in summarizing the metabolism data of 8,614 subjects at the Mayo Clinic, found