Assessment of Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Prevalence Study

El-Tantawy, Mona Sayed Ahmed; Abdelaziz, Mohamed Yakout; Abo Elnaga, Mohamed Mosad; Elsherbiny, Hanan Abdelhay; Arafat, Ahmed Abd El- Hakim

doi:10.21608/ejhm.2023.284772

Assessment of Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Prevalence Study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

10.21608/ejhm.2023.284772

Abstract

Background: Hyperglycemia is the hallmark of the metabolic abnormalities in diabetes mellitus (DM) because of dysfunctional pancreatic beta cells. After diabetes, thyroid dysfunction (TD) is the second most common endocrine disorder. DM and thyroid dysfunction can interact with each other in many ways. Several authors studied the association between T2DM and thyroid dysfunction, hence it is of great importance to evaluate the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction among T2DM patients to help better control and reduce complications of diabetes.
Objective: The current study was done to detect the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction among patients with T2DM recently diagnosed within 5 years duration or less attending the Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit at Mansoura Specialized Medical Hospital.
Patients and Methods: This was a Cross-Sectional study conducted on a total of 106 patients with T2DM recently diagnosed within 5 years duration or less. The study included male and female adult Egyptian patients aged 30-60 years within the period from July 2021 to March 2022, their diagnosis of DM was based on the American Diabetes Association criteria for T2DM.
Results: Out of 106 recently diagnosed T2DM patients, the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction was 6.6%. Hypothyroidism (4.7%) was more common in the study subjects in comparison with hyperthyroidism (1.9%). Subclinical hypothyroidism was the commonest type of thyroid dysfunction among the studied subjects. Thyroid dysfunction was significantly more prevalent among female patients (p = 0.01). There was no significant association between thyroid dysfunction and HbA1c, age, BMI, duration, or complications of diabetes.
Conclusion: TD frequently develops among recently diagnosed patients with T2DM, with hypothyroidism more frequent than hyperthyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism being the commonest type. The female gender could be considered a predictor and risk factor for thyroid dysfunction.

Keywords