Hypothyroidism associated with metabolic syndrome in a cross-sectional study from South India
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Both hypothyroidism and metabolic syndrome are cardiovascular risk factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary teaching care hospital in Southern India to investigate the association between hypothyroidism and metabolic syndrome, and to determine the risk factors involved in the association. To this end, 420 patients with metabolic syndrome and 406 age- and sex-matched controls without metabolic syndrome were followed up over 5 years. In the metabolic syndrome group, 21.9% of patients were subclinically hypothyroid, 7.4% overtly hypothyroid and 70.7% were euthyroid. In the control group, 6.6% of patients were subclinically hypothyroid, 2.2% overtly hypothyroid and 91.2% were euthyroid. Overt and subclinical hypothyroidism was significantly related to metabolic syndrome. Logistic regression analysis revealed that, in the metabolic syndrome group, female gender and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP, a marker of systemic inflammation) were significantly associated with subclinical hypothyroidism, and female gender with overt hypothyroidism. In conclusion, hypothyroidism appears to be associated with metabolic syndrome and females seem to be more at risk. Moreover, metabolic syndrome patients with raised hsCRP are at significant risk of having subclinical hypothyroidism.
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