Evaluation of the relationship between quality of life, intuitive eating behaviour and nutritional status of patients with hashimoto's thyroiditis

This study was conducted with 72 euthyroid individuals diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis who were admitted to the Endocrinology and Metabolism Polyclinic of Başkent University Ankara Hospital between December 2023 and April 2024. A face-to-face questionnaire was applied to the individuals participating in the study, food consumption records, anthropometric measurements were taken and some biochemical parameters were analysed. Thyroid Patients' Quality of Life Scale (ThyPRO) was used for quality of life and Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) was used for intuitive eating levels. The mean age of the individuals participating in the study was 47.60 ± 11.34 years. The mean body mass index of women was 26.15±5.03 kg/m² and that of men was 27.37±3.87 kg/m². The overall mean quality of life scores of the individuals were 26.89±12.07 for women and 24.32±22.24 for men. When the relationship between ThyPRO scale and anthropometric measurements was examined, body weight (r=0.456, p<0.01), BMI (r=0.531, p<0.01), waist circumference (r=0.394, p<0. 01), hip circumference (r=0.495, p<0.01), waist/height ratio (r=0.414, p<0.01), fat mass (r=0.501, p<0.01) increased, cosmetic complaints related to the disease also increased. When the relationship between the ThyPRO scale and biochemical findings was analysed, it was observed that as serum TSH levels increased, impairment in social life (r=0.467, p<0.01) and daily life (r=0.297, p<0.05) increased and general quality of life decreased (r=0.320, p<0.05). It was found that depression level increased as dietary saturated fat intake increased (r=0.281, p<0.05) and hypothyroid symptoms decreased as pulp intake increased (r=-0.280, p<0.05). The mean intuitive eating score of the individuals in the study was determined as 3.29±0.49. It was observed that individuals who ate fast (p<0.05) and skipped the morning meal (p<0.01) had lower intuitive eating scores. In the relationship between intuitive eating and anthropometric measurements, it was found that body weight (r=-0.302, p<0.05), waist circumference (r=-0.290, p<0.05), hip circumference (r=-0.280, p<0.05), waist/height ratio (r=-0.305, p<0.05), fat percentage (r=-0.297, p<0.05) decreased as the level of intuitive eating increased. When the relationship with biochemical findings was analysed, it was found that intuitive eating level decreased as serum TSH level (r=-0.340, p<0.05) increased. It was found that pulp intake (r=0.290, p<0.05) increased as the level of intuitive eating increased. It was determined that the quality of life of the individuals participating in the study increased as the level of intuitive eating increased (r=-0.412, p<0.01). In conclusion, it was observed that some nutritional factors, anthropometric measurements and biochemical findings were associated with both intuitive eating and quality of life. Optimising the factors that may affect quality of life, especially in individuals with chronic diseases, may improve quality of life. Therefore, it is known that interventions to support healthy lifestyle behaviours in individuals are important and intuitive eating is thought to be one of them.