Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: While there is no consensus about population screening for hypothyroidism there is compelling evidence to support case-finding for hypothyroidism in those with autoinmune disease, such as type 1 diabetic patients. The present study has been made to estimate the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in type 2 diabetic patients. In the British Whickham survey 9.3% of women and 1.2% of men had serum TSH values over 10 μIU/ml. The Colorado thyroid disease prevalence survey, using an upper normal TSH value of 5 μIU/ml, reported a prevalence of 8.9%.

Methods: Design: cross-sectional study. Subjects: 194 type 2 diabetic patients attending our primary health care service last year, who had determined serum free thyroxine and TSH concentrations. The upper and lower limits of the normal TSH reference range were 5.5 and 0.35 μIU/ml, respectively. Multiple clinical, demographic and laboratory parameters were measured.

Results: Mean age was 70.8 year (S.D. 11.7), and 49.5% were women. Thyroid dysfunction was present in 18 patients (9.27%; 95% CI, 5.2–13.34). Women were more likely than men to develop thyroid disorders, with a statistically significant difference (X²=4.1; P<0.05). The most common thyroid disorder was hypothyroidism (8.76%).

Conclusion: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in our type 2 diabetic patients was 9.27%.