Objective: to estimate the incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the Republic of Karelia and to analyze the types of carbohydrate metabolism disorders.Patients and methods. The investigation enrolled 889 patients aged 18 years and older with RA treated in the Rheumatology Department, V.A. Baranov Republican Hospital (Petrozavodsk), in 2000 to 2019. Among them, there were 709 (79.8%) women and 180 (20.2%) men; the median age was 59 [52; 66] years; the median duration of RA was 6.5 [1.75; 13] years. Most patients were found to have positive rheumatoid factor (68.3%), the second and more advanced radiological stages (90.6%), and moderate and high RA disease activity (84.8%). Methotrexate as a mainstay disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug was taken by 68.2%; biological agents and glucocorticoids (GCs) were used in 4.8 and 3.3%, respectively. The incidence of DM and its types and risk factors (RFs) were analyzed.Results and discussion. DM was recorded in 67 (7.5%) RA patients (55 women and 12 men; the median age was 62 [56; 66] years). Among these patients, 9 (1.0%) patients with RA were observed to have type 1 DM, 50 (5.6%) and 8 (0.9%) patients had steroid-induced DM (SIDM), and type 2 DM, respectively. In 55.5% of cases, type 1 DM was represented by latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), which is of late onset. SIDM was detected in 75% of patients over 60 years of age who had RFs for type 2 DM. In this study, the incidence of type 2 DM in RA patients exceeded official figures in the general population of the Russian Federation, but was close to the predicted prevalence rates of type 2 DM. Patients with RA and type 2 DM had major RFs, such as age over 45 years, hypertension, overweight or obesity; moreover, 60% of patients were found to have a combination of these factors.Conclusion. RA patients showed a higher incidence rate of carbohydrate disorders of different types; the number of cases of type 1 DM and type 2 DM among the examined patients with RA exceeded that in the regional DM registries in the general population in the Republic of Karelia. It seems advisable to screen for carbohydrate disorders in patients with RA, especially in the presence of RFs for type 2 DM and during systemic therapy with GCs.

Rationale: Primary hypothyroidism is one of the most common endocrine disorders. Difficulties in its diagnosis are related to the lack of specific and pathognomonic clinical symptoms of the disease. It is not infrequent that before the right diagnosis is made, patients with hypothyroidism go a  long way of examinations and consultations of various specialists; we have illustrated this by two clinical cases.Clinical case No. 1 was a 69-year old woman with a  late diagnosis of severe primary hypothyroidism. Despite the presence of typical clinical signs of hypothyroidism, such as epidermal and edematous syndromes, encephalopathy, depression, and anemia, some clinical patterns (significant weight loss, ascites, low cholesterol, protein, electrolyte levels, and severe anemia) directed the diagnostic search towards oncology. It was the oncologist who was the first to suggest hypothyroidism that was later confirmed by high thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels.Clinical case No. 2 was a case of hypothyroidism in a young man with a baseline history of kidney disease. Fatigue, myalgia, neurological abnormalities, cytolysis and hypercholesterolemia were the leading symptoms that progressed steadily and led to disability.Conclusion: These clinical cases demonstrate the variety of clinical symptoms in manifest hypothyroidism and emphasize the significance of high awareness of this disorder among various medical specialties. It is of note that laboratory tests to diagnose primary hypothyroidism are very simple and available (high serum TSH level is enough for the diagnosis) and treatment with levothyroxine sodium is very effective.