my personal edition > diabetes > news
E-Mail this DGReview to a colleague
DGReview
Association Between Autoimmune Thyroid Dysfunction And Type 1 Diabetes Confirmed
A DGReview of :"Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes: A longitudinal study"
Diabetes Care
04/08/2003
By James Adams
A longitudinal study has confirmed the association between autoimmune thyroid dysfunction and type 1 diabetes, suggesting a need for regular 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.
Measurement of thyroid-stimulating hormone, thyroxine and triiodothyronine were performed every year. Thyroid peroxidase antibodies were measured every four 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.
Diabetes Care 2003;26:4:1181-1185.
"Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes: A longitudinal study"
All contents Copyright (c) 1995-2009 Doctor's Guide Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
| 
