Evaluation of metabolic syndrome and its components in benign and malign nodular thyroid diseases

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a condition with a group of metabolic abnormalities where insulin resistance (IR) plays a major role. Previous studies have shown that in patients with insulin resistance, the thyroid volume and nodule prevalence was increased. The aim of our study is to evaluate the metabolic syndrome and its components in patients with benign and malignant nodular thyroid disease. A total of 800 patients (430 euthyroid benign nodular and 370 euthyroid malignant nodular thyroid diseased) were analyzed for metabolic syndrome and its components. Serum insulin levels and the level of IR, estimated by the HOMA-IR (homeostasis model assessment- IR), as well as other MetS parameters were evaluated. Metabolic syndrome was detected in 59 percent of 800 patients. There was no significant difference between benign and malignant thyroid nodular disease groups related to prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (61.4% in benign nodular group, 57.8% in malignant nodular group, p>0,05). Metabolic syndrome components were analysed and determined that the most common component was abdominal obesity (65%), followed by low HDL-C level (64.8%), and high blood glucose level (30.8%). When patients with benign and malignant thyroid nodular disease were evaluated separately, the occurrence of the MetS components were found in similar frequency in the benign group compared to the overall average. In malignant group, it was determined that the low HDL-C level was the most common and the high blood pressure was the least commonly seen component. There was no significant difference between benign and malignant thyroid nodular disease groups in terms of insulin levels and insulin resistance. The results suggest that patients with benign or malignant thyroid nodular disease have significantly increased metabolic syndrome prevalence compared to patients without benign or malignant thyroid nodular disease. Our data provides evidence that IR is an independent risk factor for nodule formation, however there is no significant difference between benign and malignant thyroid nodular disease in terms of MetS component distribution.