Endocrine Abstracts

Back ground and objectives: Relation between thyroid function with respect to insulin resistance has been a field that is rich and captivating for research and further examination. Few studies have suggested that metformin, the first-line in diabetes management, may lower thyroid-stimu-lating hormone (TSH). Owing to Paucity of studies regarding the effect of metformin on TSH in hypothyroidism patients, this study compares the effect of metformin on TSH and BMI in Egyptian naïve hypothyroid patients.

Methods: This cross-sectional prospective study recruited 200 patients with newly diagnosed hypothyroidism (86 male and 114 female). Patients divided in to two groups; Group 1 include 100 patients receive metformin 1000 mg beside thyroxine therapy and Group 2 (100 patients) treated only by thyroxine therapy. The height, weight, BMI, waist circumference (WC) and thyroid hormone levels were assessed at baseline and after 4 months of metformin treatment.

Results: BMI and WC decreased significantly after metformin therapy (27.8±2.2, 97.2±6.7) and (28.8±1.8, 104.8±5.4) (P<0.0001) in group 1 vs group 2 respectively. No significant difference between two groups as regard to TSH (P=0.881).

Conclusion: It has been established that metformin decrease body mass index and waist circumference in naïve hypothyroid Egyptian patients with no influence on TSH levels.