High-Normal Serum Thyrotropin Levels Increased the Risk of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Euthyroid Subjects with Type 2 Diabetes

Ying Tan; Xixiang Tang; Panwei Mu; Yi Yang; Mei Li; Yuanpeng Nie; Haicheng Li; Yanhua Zhu; Yanming Chen

doi:10.2147/DMSO.S313224

High-Normal Serum Thyrotropin Levels Increased the Risk of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Euthyroid Subjects with Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2021 Jun 22:14:2841-2849. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S313224. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ying Tan^#¹, Xixiang Tang^#^{1

2}, Panwei Mu¹, Yi Yang¹, Mei Li^{1

2}, Yuanpeng Nie¹, Haicheng Li¹, Yanhua Zhu¹, Yanming Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Endocrinology & Metabolism, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Diabetology, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
² VIP medical service center, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between high-normal thyrotropin (TSH) levels and the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in euthyroid patients with T2DM.

Methods: A total of 2289 euthyroid adults with T2DM were included in this cross-sectional study conducted at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from January 2016 to December 2018. NAFLD was diagnosed by abdominal ultrasound. Thyroid function parameters, including the levels of TSH, free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4), were analyzed. The patients were stratified by quartiles (Q1-4) of TSH levels. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between the quartiles of TSH levels and the risk of NAFLD in euthyroid adults with T2DM.

Results: There were 940 (41.1%) euthyroid adults with T2DM who were diagnosed with NAFLD. The subjects were divided according to the thyroid function parameter quartiles. The prevalence of NAFLD increased with increasing TSH level quartiles (Q1 to Q4: 34.8%, 37.5%, 44.9% and 47.0%, P<0.01) but not with increasing FT3 or FT4 level quartiles. In the multivariate logistic regression model, compared with the lowest TSH level quartile (Q1), the highest TSH level quartile (Q4) (OR=1.610, 95% CI=1.131-2.289, P=0.008) was independently associated with an increased risk of NAFLD in euthyroid adults with T2DM after adjusting for multiple confounders. After additional stratification by the level of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and body mass index (BMI), the highest TSH level quartile was still independently associated with an increased risk of NAFLD in euthyroid patients with T2DM who had an HbA1c level≥7% or a BMI<28 kg/m².

Conclusion: High-normal serum TSH levels are significantly associated with the presence of NAFLD in T2DM patients with euthyroid function, which provide novel insight for treating NAFLD.

Keywords: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; thyroid hormone; type 2 diabetes.

Grants and funding

This study was funded by National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFA0105803), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81770826, 82000278), the 5010 Clinical Research Projects of Sun Yat-sen University (2015015), the Key Area R&D Program of Guangdong Province (2019B020227003), the Science and Technology Plan Project of Guangzhou City(202007040003), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2020A1515010599), and the fostering special funding projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China in the third affiliated hospital of SYSU(2020GZRPYQN04).