Thyroid Function Test in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Background: Kidneys have a significant role in the metabolism, degradation and excretion of thyroid hormones. Both thyroid hormones and kidney functions have a multifaceted mutual interdependence.

Objectives: To find out the possible association between the severity of chronic kidney disease and thyroid dysfunction; To estimate the correlation between thyroid dysfunction and various stages of chronic kidney disease.

Materials and Methods: A prospective Cross-sectional study was done on 50 patients with Chronic kidney disease who were not on dialysis and fulfilled all the inclusion criteria at Saveetha medical college over a period of 6 months. Free T3, Free T4 and TSH levels were estimated for those patients.

Results: Results of this study showed that majority of subjects included in our study were in the age group of 50-60 years with Male predominance. Out of 50 patients included in our study, 8 patients(16%) were found to hypothyroidism; 5 patients (10%) were having subclinical hypothyroidism; 20 patients (40%) were having low T3 syndrome and 17 patients (34%) were having normal functioning thyroid gland. Staging of CKD was done in relation to the glomerular filtration rate .Most of the patients(n=20) were in Stage 5 of Chronic kidney disease out of which 18 patients were having thyroid disorders.

Conclusion: There is a positive correlation between the severity of CKD and thyroid dysfunction. Hence a routine thyroid function status should be evaluated in each and every patient of CKD to reduce the morbidity and mortality rate of CKD patients as well as reduce the social burden and health expenditure.