Effects of body composition changes on glycometabolism after treatment of Graves′ disease with weight loss

Abstract

Objective To assess body composition changes after short-term treatment of Graves′ disease (GD) with weight loss and its consequent effects on metabolism. Methods A total of 150 patients with GD (male/female=52/98) were included in this study who met the requirements with weight loss before treatment and weight gain over 3% after six months of treatment with anti-thyroid medication. Body weight, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure changes were recorded before and after 6-month therapy. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) was performed to measure fat and lean tissue mass of body, trunk, arms, legs and other areas. Comparisons were performed by paired t-test or Wilcoxon sign rank test. The correlation between body composition and metabolic parameters was analyzed by multiple linear regression. Results After six months of treatment with anti-thyroid drugs, thyroid functions were significantly improved. In body composition, body fat mass(BF), female, trunk fat mass (TF), body lean mass (BL), appendicular lean mass (AL), BF/weight(%), and TF/weight (%) all increased significantly, while BL/weight (%) decreased significantly (t=-11.709-16.106, P 0.05). Conclusion Short-term changes in regional fat and lean mass are inversely correlated to the improvement of metabolism in hyperthyroidism, however no impact on overall glycometabolism improvement with correction of hyperthyroidism. Key words: Hyperthyroidism; Weight changes; Body composition; Metabolism