Thyroid hormone indices as biomarkers for risk of gestational diabetes

A plethora of studies have evidenced the relation of Hypothyroidism with Diabetes Mellitus.  Talking about the prevalence of hypothyroidism in India it is about 3.9%, with higher prevalence in women at 11.4% compared to men at 6.2%. Pregnancy impacts thyroid function as the hormone production increase in gestation by 50%. About 10%–15% of pregnant women have thyroid disorders during pregnancy including subclinical hyper- or hypothyroidism and by routine screening correction of these disorders can be done which will eventually reduce the risk of adverse feto-maternal outcomes like foetal loss, preterm birth etc. Gestational diabetes mellitus is the most prevalent disease among pregnant women affecting 4-14% of population in India. Recently the association between thyroid insensitivity and reduced response to the thyroid hormones is considered to be a risk factor for diabetes in general and also during pregnancy.

The purpose of this study is to explore the association of central and peripheral thyroid resistance indices with the risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). The relation between gestational diabetes and thyroid disorders with the help of thyroid indices has been a less explored arena.

The study will be hospital based prospective cross-sectional study and participants will be pregnant females (18-45years) In this study we will analyse all the routine biochemical parameters during their visit like fasting plasma glucose, post-prandial plasma glucose, lipid profile, renal profile etc. will also be checked. All pregnant women will be screened for GDM at 24-28 weeks by Oral Glucose tolerance test and at the same time thyroid levels (T3, T4, and TSH) will be measured.

This study will help us in solving the unresolved questions of associations of thyroid hormones insensitivity and prevalence of diabetes in euthyroid pregnant females.