Photo Credit: ilink
The following is a summary of “Impact of Hypothyroidism on Cardiovascular-Related Healthcare Utilization in the US Population With Diabetes,” published in the January 2025 issue of Endocrinology by Ramirez et al.
Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are at an elevated risk of adverse cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes and the risk may be further exacerbated by the presence of suboptimal hypothyroidism (HT) treatment.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to compare CVD-related healthcare utilization in patients with DM with and without HT in the US population.
They collected participant data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) between 2011 and 2020. Medical conditions were identified using ICD-9/ICD-10 codes related to expenditures. Healthcare utilization outcomes included the number of visits for coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA), or heart failure, prescriptions for CVD, and visits to specialty providers. A propensity score-based fine stratification matching method balanced sociodemographic covariates to assess the relative risk (RR) of HT on CVD-related healthcare utilization.
The results showed 15,580 adult participants with DM were identified, with 11.9% having treated HT. In the weighted analysis, a higher percentage of participants with HT had CAD and TIA-related visits compared to those without HT (22.4% vs 17.8%, P = 0.002; 7.3% vs 5.4%, P = 0.020). In the matched analysis, individuals with HT were more likely to visit specialists, including cardiologists, endocrinologists, and nephrologists. Participants with HT were also more likely to receive cholesterol-lowering medications, beta-blockers, and diuretics.
Investigators concluded the HT as a comorbidity with DM was associated with increased healthcare utilization related to CVD, including a higher frequency of TIA-related visits, increased use of specialty care, and greater utilization of CVD medications.
