Prevalence of hypothyroidism in patients with type 2 diabetes

Abstract

Introduction. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a clinical syndrome that makes the body unable to normalize serum glucose levels. Hypothyroidism reflects a condition in which there is a low level of thyroid hormones in the body. The relation between type 1 diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism is already well established, but its relation to type 2 is still not well described in the academic community. Casuistry and Methods. Were included in this study patients treated between January 2015 and December 2016, who had a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The instruments of collection were: clinical form with data about profile and patient identification, health inventory, clinical aspects of the reason of the medical appointment, physical evaluation, laboratory evaluation, medical diagnosis and treatment plan. Were selected 184 medical records of patients attended in this period, been that 31 patients were excluded due to the lack of data needed for categorization. The medical records of the 153 remaining patients were reviewed, of which only 51 had a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus and were included in this study. Results. After reviewing the remaining medical records, 15 patients were diagnosed with hypothyroidism, determining a prevalence of 29.4%. Discussion.  The high prevalence found suggests that screening for hypothyroidism in type 2 diabetics may lead to early diagnosis. Conclusion. The high prevalence of hypothyroidism established in this study leads to the recommendation of screening for this disease in all type 2 diabetic patients.