Study confirms need for regular thyroid dysfunction
screening.
Previous cross-sectional studies have reported a
two- to three-fold higher risk of thyroid dysfunction in type 1 diabetics
compared with the general population, explain investigators. However,
longitudinal studies have been lacking.
The investigators, from the Divisions of Endocrinology and Preventive Medicine
at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, United States,
studied 26 men and 32 women who enrolled in the centre's Diabetes Control and
Complications Trial in 1983. The men and women were prospectively followed for
18 years.
Results showed that 18 patients had hypothyroidism and 1 patient experienced
transient hyperthyroidism. Two subjects developed hypothyroidism before diabetes
and were excluded from the analysis.
Diabetes was diagnosed at a mean age of 19 ± 2 years and hypothyroidism at 29 ±
3 years. Forty-one percent of the female patients developed hypothyroidism
compared with 19% of the male patients.
Hypothyroidism was also more common in patients with thyroid peroxidase
antibodies. Patients who were positive for these antibodies were 17.91 times as
likely to develop hypothyroidism than their negative counterparts.
The investigators suggest that patients with type 1 diabetes, particularly those
positive for thyroid peroxidase antibodies, should undergo annual
thyroid-stimulating hormone measurements to detect asymptomatic thyroid
dysfunction.
Source: Diabetes In Control Dot Com: Diabetes Care 2003;26:4:1181-1185.
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