Subclinical thyroid disease: consensus or conundrum?

In 2002, a scientific review and consensus committee, which included representatives from the American Thyroid Association, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the Endocrine Society convened a panel of expertise to define STD and review the literatures regarding the risk and benefit of treatment, the panel had come out with definition of subclinical hypothyroidism as (a serum TSH concentration above the statistically defined upper limit of the reference range when serum free T4 is within its reference range, and subclinical hyperthyroidism ; a serum TSH concentration below the statistically defined lower limit of the reference range when serum FT4 and T3 levels are within their reference ranges.)