Abstract:
To determine the relation between thyroid stimulating hormone and various components of
metabolic syndrome.
Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Pathology department, Army Medical College of National University of
Sciences and Technology (NUST) Islamabad and Military Hospital (MH), Rawalpindi, Pakistan; from
January to March 2013.
Material and Methods: Hundred adult inhabitants (30-60 years) of Rawalpindi participated in this study.
Subjects who fulfilled the WHO criteria for metabolic syndrome (MetS) were included and those who had any
thyroid illness, or were using any thyroid medications were excluded from this study. For thyroid function
tests (TFT’s), serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), total tri-iodothyronine (TT3), free throxine (FT4)
were estimated. Insulin resistance (IR) was measured by Homeostasis Model Assessment for IR (HOMA-IR).
Data was analyzed by SPSS-18.
Results: Out of 50 subjects of control group, 26 (52%) were male and 24 (48%) were female. Basal metabolic
rate (BMI), serum triglyceride (TG), HOMA-IR were higher and serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol
(HDL-c) was lower in MetS patients. There was no significant difference in serum TT3 and FT4 between MetS
patients and control group, however, mean serum TSH levels were higher in MetS (2.622 + 0.924 vs 5.002 +
1.074 mIU/l, p<0.001). In correlation analysis, serum TSH was positively and significantly correlated with
BMI (r=0.344, p=0.014) and HOMA-IR (r=0.419, p<0.002).
Conclusion: These results suggest that serum TSH correlates with various components of metabolic syndrome
patients. Analysis of serum TSH levels in metabolic syndrome patients may prove beneficial in preventing the
various cardiometabolic complications in such patients.
