Gluco-lipidic indices in treated hypothyroidism associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Thyroid hormones may interfere with regulation of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism as well as with severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), however results are still debated.

Retrospective evaluation of clinical and metabolic correlations between hypothyroidism and NAFLD was the target.

Clinical, biochemical and histological investigation of 103 NAFLD patients exhibiting drug-treated hypothyroidism was conducted.

Steatosis was present in 32.0% of the population and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in 68.0%. Females were the majority in both groups, with age of 50.0 ± 1.5 and 56.0 ± 1.1 years, respectively. Hypothyroidism was not rare (15.5%), and multivariate analysis confirmed positive correlation with this disease for insulin (r = 0.213, P = 0.03), glucose homeostasis index "HOMA" (r = 0.221, P = 0.02), aspartate aminotransferase (r = 0.234, P = 0.01) and triglycerides above 150 mg/dL (r = 0.233, P = 0.01). No association between hypothyroidism and steatohepatitis could be established.

A link could be identified between hypothyroidism and markers of glucose and lipid homeostasis, but not with severity of NAFLD. The lack of correlation with liver biopsy requires further studies.