THYROID DYSFUNCTION IN EGYPTIAN METABOLIC SYNDROME PATIENTS

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MS) and thyroid dysfunction (TD) both are risk factors for atherosclerotic heart disease. There is overlap between the symptoms of the two disorders and hence the association between them.

Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of TD among Egyptian patients with metabolic syndrome.

Subjects and Methods: The current study was carried out on patients attending the outpatient clinics in Specialized Medical Hospital, Mansoura University. Subjects who fulfilled three out of five criteria proposed by the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) were included as the MS group, in addition to 46 healthy subjects as the control group. Thyroid function was evaluated by measuring TSH, free T3, free T4 and reversed T3 (rT3).

Results: The prevalence of TD in MS patients was 45.1%, while in non-MS subjects was (6.5%) Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) was the commonest TD among the MS patients representing (29.1%) compared to (6.5%) in non- MS group. TSH had significant negative association with TG levels (p =0.005), fT4 had significant negative association with both WC and SBP (p < 0.001 & 0.044 respectively), fT3 had significant negative association with both SBP and FBG (p =0.013 & < 0.001 respectively) and finally, rT3 had significant negative association with BMI (p= 0.018) and TG (p<0.001) and positive association with FBG (p=0.002).

Conclusion: High prevalence of SCH in Egyptian patients with MS, also a relationship was found between TD and MS parameters.