BASAL METABOLIC RATE AND PLASMA CHOLESTEROL AS AIDS IN THE CLINICAL STUDY OF THYROID DISEASE*

Abstract

SINCE 1910 when Benedict introduced a new apparatus for determining the respiratory exchange, the basal metabolic rate has been established as a routine clinical aid in the diagnosis of thyroid disease. As is true of any laboratory test, the determination of the basal metabolic rate has definite limitations and requires proper interpretation. Among the errors of interpretation to be avoided is that of accepting an elevated metabolic rate as certain evidence of the presence of hyperthyroidism or, similarly, interpreting a moderately low rate as an indication of thyroid insufficiency. The tendency of some to disregard the basal metabolic rate as an aid to thyroid diagnosis is equally unjustified. Clinicians who have an extended experience with thyroid disease might well dispense with the basal metabolic test and depend entirely on clinical judgment, but even then occasions would arise when they would desire to use the test.