Abstract

Objectives: Our aim was to identify the correlation between autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) and the prevalent of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in women with diabetes mellitus type 1 (DM1).

Methods: We reviewed medical records adults women with type 1 diabetes diagnosed on the basis of WHO criteria - lasting at least a year and with AITD for at least a year. The control group consisted of women without AITD, selected according to age, BMI, DM1 duration and metabolic control. Anthropometric parameters, parameters of diabetes metabolic control, thyroid and metabolic status and presence of DR were assessed. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between AITD and prevalent DR.

Results: We included 122 women with type 1 diabetes aged 36 ± 13 years. The average duration of DM1 was comparable between the groups, in the study group was 12 ± 10 years, and in the control group 13 ± 9 years. The parameters of metabolic control of DM as HbA1c percentage, the lipid profile and blood pressure did not differ significantly between the study groups. Patients from the study group had significantly higher concentration of TSH, fT4, anti-TPO and anti-Tg than the control group.

Conclusion: After excluding the recognized risk factors for DR in women with DM1 and concomitant AITD, showed a significantly lower chance of developing non-proliferative DR, therefore in this group of patients it is recommended to have standard assessment of TSH and thyroid antibodies levels for the early diagnosis of AITD and possible levothyroxine treatment.

Keywords: Diabetes Type 1; Women; Autoimmune Thyroid Disease; Diabetic Retinopathy; Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis; Graves-Basedow’ Disease

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Citation

Citation: Magdalena Stefanowicz-Rutkowska., et al. “Autoimmune Thyroid Disease in Women with Type 1 Diabetes is Associated with a Lower Incidence of Diabetic Retinopathy". Acta Scientific Women's Health 2.12 (2020): 21-27.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Magdalena Stefanowicz-Rutkowska., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.