Investigation of Thyroid Disorders in Women with Diabetes in the United Arab Emirates: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study.

Aim: The present study aims to investigate thyroid disorders (TDs) in women with diabetes mellitus (DM) and the correlation, if any, between TDs and development of hypertension in this group of patients.

Methods: The present study is a retrospective cross-sectional study that was conducted in the United Arab Emirates. Women with DM were randomly selected from the electronic medical records database, and 429 patients were included in the study. The investigation included age, diabetes duration, body mass index, blood pressure, hemoglobin A1c, fasting and random glucose, lipid profile, thyroid function test, and levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone. In addition, the antidiabetic medications used by patients with DM were analyzed.

Results: The majority of the studied population (90%, n = 386) had type 2 DM and 33% (n = 142) had TDs; 42% participants with thyroid dysfunction had hypertension compared with 57% participants with normal thyroid function (odds ratio 0.57; 95% confidence interval 0.33-0.97; p = 0.039). It was also found that a smaller number of patients with DM who use pioglitazone as a main antidiabetic medication had thyroid dysfunction (1.4%), whereas participants who used liraglutide were more vulnerable to develop TDs (16.9%).

Conclusions: Two-thirds of women with DM and TDs had hypothyroidism; 42% of women with DM and TDs had hypertension. Liraglutide was seen more in patients with TDs compared with pioglitazone suggesting a potential correlation between TDs and the use of Glucagon-Like Peptide (GLP-1) analogues.