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

Context: 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.

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

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

Results: 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.

Conclusion: 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.