Association of Thyroid Hormone Levels with Microvascular Complications in Euthyroid Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Figures & data

Figure 1 Prevalence of diabetic microvascular complications.

Figure 2 Frequency of diabetic microvascular complications.

Table 1 Baseline Characteristics of Study Participants in This Retrospective Study

Characteristics	Any Microangiopathy		DPN		DN		DR
	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Patients no. (n)	69	179	112	136	169	79	160	88
Age (years)	51.3±11.6	60.1±12.9**	52.0±12.3	62.3±11.8**	54.7±12.1	63.9±13.0**	55.4±11.7	61.6±14.6*
Sex, male (%)	68.1	58.7	67.9	55.9	60.9	62.0	62.5	59.1
Duration of T2DM (years)	4.0(9.3)	10.0(11.0) **	7.2(9.8)	12.0(13.0) **	8.0(11.0)	11.0(10.0) *	6.0(9.0)	14.0(9.0) **
Family history of T2DM (no/yes)	13/56	37/142	22/90	28/108	33/136	17/62	35/125	15/73
HBP (no/yes)	48/21	91/88*	68/44	71/65	104/65	35/44*	101/59	38/50*
BMI (Kg/m^2)	25.28±3.95	27.01±4.01*	26.07±4.05	26.91±4.04	26.08±4.16	27.49±3.67*	26.24±4.24	27.04±3.69
HbA1C (%)	9.29±2.65	9.09±2.34	9.04±2.40	9.24±2.46	9.06±2.46	9.33±2.36	8.93±2.50	9.54±2.25
TG (mmol/L)	1.36(1.42)	2.50(1.81) *	1.49(1.71)	2.00(1.73)	1.59(1.63)	2.42(2.14)**	1.63(1.64)	2.13(1.90)
TC (mmol/L)	4.66±1.02	5.09±1.22*	4.75±1.13	5.15±1.20*	4.92±1.14	5.06±1.28	4.91±1.14	5.08±1.25
HDL (mmol/L)	1.16±0.27	1.15±0.30	1.14±0.29	1.16±0.30	1.17±0.31	1.12±0.27	1.15±0.30	1.16±0.28
LDL (mmol/L)	3.05±0.81	3.38±1.00*	3.07±0.90	3.47±0.97*	3.17±0.84	3.56±1.14*	3.16±0.86	3.52±1.09*
VLDL (mmol/L)	0.50(0.40)	0.61(0.39) *	0.56(0.45)	0.59(0.35)	0.56(0.39)	0.64(0.56)	0.57(0.40)	0.61(0.43)
TSH (mIU/L)	1.72(0.96)	1.70(1.04)	1.69(0.81)	1.71(1.26)	1.72(1.01)	1.66(0.85)	1.72(0.97)	1.70(1.44)
FT3 (pmol/L)	5.16±0.97	4.27±0.58 **	4.89±0.92	4.22±0.56 **	4.71±0.85	4.12±0.54 **	4.69±0.87	4.21±0.60 **
FT4(pmol/L)	13.89±2.24	11.36±2.38 **	12.96±2.54	11.33±2.62**	12.78±2.43	10.54±2.63 **	12.72±2.59	10.88±2.52 **
eGFR(mL/(min*1.73m^2))	128.15±4.37	111.53±22.64 **	118.65±18.63	114.09±22.19**	127.82±4.35	86.90±18.06**	120.90±15.97	107.52±25.27**
Insulin (no/yes)	42/27	84/95*	70/42	56/80**	103/66	23/56**	97/63	29/59**
Sulphonylureas (no/yes)	28/41	110/69**	59/53	79/57	72/97	62/17**	72/88	66/22**
Thiazolidinediones (no/yes)	45/24	121/58	76/36	90/46	123/46	43/36**	117/43	49/39**
Metformin (no/yes)	24/45	85/94	53/59	56/80	58/111	51/28**	52/108	57/31**
Others (no/yes)	51/18	145/34	89/23	107/29	131/38	65/14	138/28	64/24

Notes: * P<0.05; ** P<0.01.

Abbreviations: DPN, diabetic peripheral neuropathy; DN, diabetic nephropathy; DR, diabetic retinopathy; T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus; HBP, hypertension; BMI, body mass index; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglyceride; HDL, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; VLDL, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HbA1c, glycosylated hemoglobin; TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone; FT3, free triiodothyronine; FT4, free thyroxine; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate.

Figure 3 Prevalence of microvascular complications among tertiles based on TSH, free FT3 and FT4 levels. TSH (tertile 1: 0.56–1.48 μIU/mL, tertile 2: 1.48–2.03 μIU/mL, tertile 3: 2.03–5.91 mIU/L); FT3 (tertile 1: 3.28–4.06 pmol/L, tertile 2: 4.06–4.73 pmol/L, tertile 3: 4.73–6.47 pmol/L); FT4 (tertile 1: 7.64–10.59 pmol/L, tertile 2: 10.59–13.72 pmol/L, tertile 3: 13.72–16.03 pmol/L).

Figure 4 Association between thyroid hormone levels and microvascular complications (4A: any microangiopathy; 4B: DPN; 4C: DN; 4D: DR) based on multivariate logistic regression.

Notes: Model 1: Evaluating the risk of diabetic microvascular complications when the thyroid hormone is considered as a continuous variable; Model 2: Evaluating the risk of diabetic microvascular complications in different thyroid hormone tertiles. Adjusted confounders: age, sex, the duration of T2DM, family history of T2DM, the history of hypertension, BMI, TC, TG, HDL, LDL, VLDL and HbA1c. *P values for trends across all tertiles.

Abbreviations: DPN, diabetic peripheral neuropathy; DN, diabetic nephropathy; DR, diabetic retinopathy.

Figure 5 ROC analysis of thyroid hormones to diabetic microvascular complications (5A: any microangiopathy; 5B: DPN; 5C: DN; 5D: DR).

Abbreviations: DPN, diabetic peripheral neuropathy; DN, diabetic nephropathy; DR, diabetic retinopathy.