Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 20, 2026

Longitudinal Follow-Up of Urinary Tract Infections and Their Treatment in Mice using Bioluminescence Imaging
Published on: June 14, 2021
The prevalence and incidence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with diabetes - a longitudinal follow-up study
Roxana Maria Tudor1, Aoife Garrahy1, Conor P Woods1
1Academic Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Beaumont Hospital/RCSI, Medical School Dublin, Dublin 9, Ireland.
Background:
Thyroid dysfunction (TD) occurs in 13.4% of diabetic patients, which has prompted recommendations for annual thyroid screening in patients with diabetes. However, recommendations for annual screening should be based on disease incidence rather than prevalence.
Methods:
In 1997-1998, seven hundred and thirty patients (618 type 2 diabetes, 55% male; 112 type 1 diabetes, 47% male) were sequentially screened for TD. The 639 patients with normal thyroid function were followed from 1999 to 2006, with annual thyroid function tests.
Results:
A total of 21/112 (19%) with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and 70/618 (11%) with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) had TD. TD was more frequent in females (p < 0.05) and T1DM (p = 0.04). The mean annual rate of conversion to abnormal tests was 2.1%. At 8 years, there were 100 new cases of TD representing 15.6% of the cohort (17 T1DM and 83 T2DM). TD was more frequent in females (p < 0.05), but there was no difference in the incidence of new TD between T1DM and T2DM (p = 0.39).
Conclusions:
Our data confirms the high prevalence of TD in diabetic patients, in concordance with the results from other series. We found only 25 treatable cases of new thyroid disease from 639 patients in the 8-year follow-up, less than 0.5% per year. The low incidence of treatable thyroid disease challenges the need for annual screening for thyroid abnormalities in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Related Concept Videos
Prevalence and Incidence
Prevalence indicates the proportion of individuals in a population who have a specific disease or health...
Longitudinal Studies
Longitudinal Research
Types of Reports II: Incident or Occurrence Report
Purposes:
In the healthcare industry, reports play a crucial role in documenting incidents within an agency. The primary objective of these reports is to ensure patient safety, uphold the...
The Thyroid Gland
The follicles have a central cavity lined by simple cuboidal to squamous epithelial cells called follicular cells. These cells produce the glycoprotein...
Pathophysiology of Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is characterized by autoimmune-mediated destruction of pancreatic β cells, with environmental factors potentially triggering this process in genetically susceptible individuals. Despite many not having a family history, certain genes increase susceptibility,...

