Background: Hypothyroidism is a common but underdiagnosed disorder because of its nonspecific clinical presentation. The prevalence of hypothyroidism in developed countries is about 4%–5%, whereas, in India, it is reported to be around 10.95%. Glycatedhaemoglobin is an important tool for monitoring diabetes. There are several factors other than glycemic status which can influence HbA1c level. Altered RBC turnover is one of them. Hypothyroidism is known to cause decreased RBC turnover. A decrease in RBC turnover leads to increase in HbA1c levels. Because of this we excogitate that HbA1c level does not accurately reflect glycemia in hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is widely prevalent worldwide. For this reason the present study was aimed to know the effect of hypothyroidism on HbA1c level in non-diabetic patients.
Methods: This cross sectional, observational study was conducted at the Department of Medicine, Narayan Medical College and Hospital, Sasaram over a period of two years from 1st September, 2018 to 31st August, 2020. Total 100 patients with hypothyroidism and 100 control subjects were considered for final analysis.
Results: Our study revealed that serum TSH, fT4, HbA1C, and FBG were found significantly different between the hypothyroid and control groups (p values being <0.0001, <0.0001, <0.0001 and 0.0003 respectively). The difference of mean HbA1c with both groups was statistically significant (p<0.0001). HbA1C was seen higher in hypothyroid patients. Mean FPG in cases was significantly higher as compared to the control group (p=0.0003). In our study, the mean baseline HbA1c level in hypothyroid patients was found to be significantly higher relative to the matched control population (p<0.0001).
Conclusion: Mean glycatedhaemoglobin level was found to be significantly higher in hypothyroid patients than control subjects. Thus we conclude that HbA1c may not be a reliable marker of glycemic status in presence of untreated hypothyroid subjects.
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2022: 6.012
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