Effect of Gender on the Prevalence of Thyroid Dysfunction in Type II Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Hypothyroidism and diabetes share clinical sign and symptoms, such as fatigue, lethargy and weight gain. Thyroid hormones and insulin exert their metabolic effects which are similar in some respects but antagonistic in others, Insulin inhibits glycogenolysis, glycolysis as well as glucogenesis. Whereas thyroid hormones has a stimulating effects on this action. Aims and Objectives: To study the effect of gender on the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in type II diabetes mellitus patients. Methods: It was a cross sectional study done on type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. 100 cases (47 males and 53 females) and 50 controls (25 males and 25 females) were included in the study. Diabetic patients on medication that alter thyroid functioning, patients with previously known thyroid dysfunction & pregnant women were excluded from the study. Detailed history was taken; physical examination and required investigations were conducted on patients who satisfied inclusion & exclusion criteria. Investigations done were fasting Plasma glucose, TSH, FT3 and FT4. Differences between various parameters were considered statistically significant when the p value was <0.05. Results: Prevalence of abnormal thyroid function test results was higher in the diabetic females than in diabetic males (32.07% vs. 21.27%). Conclusions: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction was found to be more in the diabetic female patients than the diabetic male patients. The present study shows that the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction is high in type 2 DM female patients, hence regular monitoring of TSH levels in such patients should be suggested. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 06-05-2019 Date of acceptance: 20-05-2019 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------