Prevalence of Thyroid Diseases in Diabetics Patients at King Fahad General Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Progressive disease that is Diabetes is a chronic disorder that is characterized by elevated blood glucose levels. The global prevalence of this disorder has nearly doubled among adults. Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and thyroid diseases are the most common endocrine disorders in clinical practice. Several studies have shown that diabetes mellitus is associated with an increased incidence of thyroid disorders. The main aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of thyroid diseases in patients with Diabetes. Therefore, this information can guide physicians to detect and treat this problem better. This cross-sectional study was conducted at the outpatient clinics in King Fahad General Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The prevalence of thyroid disease among all patients with Diabetes was 31.2%. The frequency of patients without or denied any previous thyroid disease was 27.9%. The most frequent thyroid disorder was subclinical hypothyroidism, occurring in 4.2% of patients with type I DM and 35.9% with type II DM. We concluded that screening for thyroid disease among diabetic patients is essential and should be performed routinely due to the high prevalence of new cases diagnosed and the possibility of developing risk factors, such as hypertension and dyslipidemia, arising from undiagnosed thyroid dysfunction.