Thyroid Dysfunction and Diabetes: A Relationship That’s Not Sweet

Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical association of thyroid disorders in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and to correlate the thyroid function tests with diabetic control, duration and its complications. Materials and methods: A hospital based case control study was conducted at Department of Medicine of a tertiary care hospital. The study population included diagnosed cases of type 2 DM and their non-diabetic family members of similar age and gender as control. A detailed history was taken and examination was done as per the pre-tested, structured interview schedule. All patients in addition to hematological and routine urine work up underwent target organ evaluation for diabetes. All patients were evaluated for thyroid status and assessment of T3, T4 and TSH levels was carried out at our institution. Diabetic state of the patients was estimated by analyzing HbA1c and blood sugar indices (FBS/ PPBS). Data was analyzed using SPSS software ver. 21. Results: Mean age of diabetics (T2DM) and non-diabetics was 55.09±10.99 years and 51.11±8.78 years respectively while in each group 57 (50%) males and 57 (50%) females were included. Among cases, 33 (29%) patients were detected with thyroid disorders of which 25 (22%) were hypothyroid and 8 (7%) were hyperthyroid. Among controls, 15 (13%) patients were detected with thyroid disorders of which 11 (9.6%) were hypothyroid and 4 (3.5%) were hyperthyroid. A significant association was observed between prevalence of thyroid disorder and diabetes (p<0.05). No association was observed between prevalence of thyroid disorder and control and duration of diabetes or presence of microvascular complications (p>0.05). Conclusion: A high prevalence of Thyroid dysfunction was observed in type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients as compared to non-diabetic population with Hypothyroidism and Clinical thyroid disorders being more common than hyperthyroidism and subclinical thyroid disease. Thus, one must have strong suspicion of thyroid dysfunction in patients with diabetes mellitus.