Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and thyroid diseases are the two most common endocrine disorders encountered in clinical practice. Diabetes and thyroid dysfunction are shown to mutually influence each other. The peripheral nervous system is one of the various systems affected by diabetes and thyroid dysfunction.
Aim: To assess the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction among subjects with T2DM complicated by Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) to discover the possible association of thyroid dysfunction to the development and severity of DPN.
Methods: A cross-sectional study includes 160 participants with T2DM that were subdivided into 2 groups. Group A includes subjects with DPN. Group B includes subjects without DPN. Detailed clinical history was taken. Also, TSH, free T4, free T3, and HbA1c were measured.
Results: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction was observed in 25% of subjects with T2DM with hypothyroidism (67.5%) as the commonest thyroid disorder. Thyroid dysfunction was more prevalent in older females. There was a statistically significant association between thyroid status and DPN among studied cases with 12.3% of cases with DPN have overt hypothyroidism, 10.4% have subclinical hypothyroidism. Among cases with DPN, HbA1c level was statistically significantly higher among subclinical and overt hypothyroidism cases than cases with normal thyroid status. Subjects with TSH ≥ 2.4 uIU/ml have 2.4 times higher odds to exhibit neuropathy (COR = 2.423, 95% CI = 1.13 – 5.196, P = 0.023).
Conclusion: Thyroid dysfunction mainly hypothyroidism, is more prevalent and positively correlates with DPN among T2DM subjects.