Thyroid function in adult Nigerians with metabolic syndrome

Abstract

IntroductionMetabolic syndrome and thyroid dysfunction are two common disorders encountered in the metabolic clinic. Recently, there has been increased interest in the association between the two disorders because of the similarities between symptoms of hypothyroidism and components of the metabolic syndrome. While some reports suggest that metabolic syndrome is associated with subclinical hypothyroidism, this concept is largely under investigated in Nigerian adults with metabolic syndrome. The aim of this study is to determine the thyroid function status of adult Nigerians with metabolic syndrome and determine the association, if any, between metabolic syndrome and thyroid function.MethodsThis was a cross sectional study of one hundred and fifty adults, members of staff of the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos. The participants were recruited using a cluster random sampling method. The Ethical Research & Review Committee of the institution approved the study protocol and signed informed consent was obtained from the participants. The statistics was analysed using the IBM SPSS Software of version 19.0. The Student's t test, Chi square test and multivariate regression analysis were employed for the analysis. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.ResultsThirty nine (twenty-six percent) of the study participants had metabolic syndrome and one hundred and eleven (seventy-four percent) of the study participants did not have metabolic syndrome, served as controls. Those who had metabolic syndrome group were significantly older (p = 0.03), metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with the female gender (p = 0.0002), higher systolic blood pressure (p = 0.0034), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.0009), waist circumference (p < 0.0001), body mass index (p < 0.0001), waist-hip ratio (p = 0.003), fasting serum glucose (p = 0.0457) and free thyroxine (fT4) levels (p = 0.0496). Those with metabolic syndrome had significantly lower HDL (P = 0.004) and free triiodothyronine (fT3) levels (p = 0.037). There was no statistically significant difference in the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels between individuals with and without metabolic syndrome. Thirty-three percent of the metabolic syndrome cases had sick euthyroid syndrome (p= < 0.0001). In multivariate regression, waist circumference was significantly and inversely associated with the sick euthyroid syndrome (p = 0.011).ConclusionMetabolic syndrome is associated with the sick euthyroid syndrome in adult Nigerians. Abdominal obesity appears to be the link between metabolic syndrome and the sick euthyroid syndrome.

Thyroid dysfunction in metabolic syndrome patients and its relationship with components of metabolic syndrome

“…There are contrasting reports about the association between various metabolic syndrome parameters and thyroid function. In a study in Nigeria, metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with higher free T4 levels [2]. In a study in India, subclinical hypothyroidism was significantly associated with metabolic syndrome and a linear association was observed between TSH levels and total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, and HDL cholesterol levels across the metabolic syndrome group [14].…”

“…This cluster of metabolic abnormalities is associated with increased risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus [2]. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is increasing all over the world with distinct evidence of high prevalence in India and other South Asian countries [3].…”

The frequency of metabolic syndrome in patients with the subclinical hypothyroidism

“…In a cross-sectional study, Choudhary and Iani 44 found that the overall prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with MetS was 41.5% with a high prevalence of SH (27%). In a Nigerian study, Udenze et al 45 found that a third of patients with MetS had SH. Similar results were published by Gyawali et al 46 in their Nepalese study.…”

Clinical update on metabolic syndrome

“…Moreover, it has been described that MS is connected with physical incapacity 5 . Another condition which has been related to MS is the sick euthyroid syndrome in adult population 40 . Another previous study 41 mentioned that hyper-insulinemia, a highly factor present in MS, has been connected all aspects of polycystic ovary syndrome, a cause of infertility in women.…”