Obesity in Association of Autoimmune Thyroid Diseases and Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Background: Autoimmune thyroid diseases are frequent in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Objective: The aim of our study was to determine the phenotype of chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (CAT) in the different groups of patients with and without diabetes mellitus. We also focused our attention on the factors that influence the risk of thyroid diseases incidence in type 2 diabetics. Patients and methods: This is a cross- sectional study. We examined 92 patients with CAT: Group 1 includes 46 diabetics (38 women and 8 men, mean age = 45 ± 8,5 years) and a group (G) 2 includes 46 non- diabetics patients (32 women and 14 men, mean age = 41 ± 4,5 years). Results: A higher prevalence of female gender and family history of thyroid diseases in diabetics was observed. Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis is discovered precociously in diabetics. Obesity is frequently found in all patients particularly in diabetic patients (G1: 86,95% vs G2 : 65%, p=0,022). Discussion: Our results show a chronic autoimmune thyroiditis in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) resulting in recommendation of careful follow-up of diabetic patients for presence of thyroid autoimmunity. Although T2D is not an autoimmune disorder, there have been many reports showing a higher occurrence of thyroid diseases, particularly hypothyroidism, among people with T2D. The association between T2D and thyroid disorder, however, remains unexplained.