“EFFECTS OF LEVOTHYROXINE REPLACEMENT THERAPY ON INSULIN SENSITIVITY IN SUBJECTS WITH OVERT HYPOTHYROIDISM.”

Objective:- To assess fasting plasma glucose, fasting serum insulin and, insulin resistance by oxford HOMA calculator before and after levothyroxine replacement in patients with overt hypothyroidism. Material and method:- We recruited newly diagnosed overt hypothyroid patients who were prescribed 100 µgm levothyroxine and became euthyroid at 6 week and remained eutyhyroid at 3 month. These 64 patients were studied for fasting plasma glucose, fasting serum insulin and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) by oxford HOMA calculator before and at 3 months after levothyroxine treatment. Results:- Before levothyroxine replacement there was significant(p <0.001) positive correlation between TSH & fasting serum insulin(r value + 0.638), TSH and fasting plasma glucose (r value + 0.506), TSH & HOMA-IR (r value+ 0.656) but these correlations were not significant (p value>0.05) after replacement. Significant decrement was noted (p value <0.001) in fasting serum insulin(3.73 + 6.32 ), fasting plasma glucose (8.06 + 10.91 ) and HOMA-IR(0.49 + 0.78) after levothyroxine replacement Conclusion:- In our study overt hypothyroidism was associated with impaired insulin sensitivity which is proportional to thyroid dysfunction and improved with levothyroxine treatment.