PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS OF THYROID DYSFUNCTION AMONG TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS, KUWAIT

Background: Diabetes mellitus is commonly associated with altered thyroid function. There is much less data about thyroid diseases in patients with type 2 diabetes. Objective: This study was conducted to examine the prevalence and associated factors of the most frequent thyroid dysfunction among type 2 diabetic patients. Methods: The study design can be differentiated into two components. The first was a cross-sectional survey to determine the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction among type 2 diabetic patients. Recruitment efforts resulted in 1580 patients. Thyroid dysfunctions were diagnosed in 204 patients. The second component of the study was a case-control study to identify factors associated with thyroid diseases, whereas patients with thyroid dysfunctions (cases) were compared with a randomly selected similar number of type 2 diabetic patients with euthyroid status Results: The prevalence rate of thyroid dysfunction in type 2 diabetic patients was 12.9%, the most common was subclinical hypothyroidism (45.1%). The multivariate analysis revealed that female gender, Kuwaiti nationality, personal history of autoimmune disease and smoking were significant predictor variables. Conclusion: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction among diabetic patients in Kuwait is common. Subclinical hypothyroidism is prevailing. All patients with type 2 diabetes should undergo bi-annual screening to detect asymptomatic thyroid dysfunction.