Prevalence and associated Risk Factors for Obesity among Adult Patients with Thyroid Nodules
Author(s): Imad R Musa
Background: Obesity and thyroid nodules (TNs) are a growing medical health problem globally. Hence, the current study was performed to evaluate the prevalence and associated predictors for obesity among adult patients with TNs in the Royal Commission Hospital, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2021. Patients with documented TNs based on the American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (ACR TI-RADS) were recruited. Then, the prevalence and associated risk factors for obesity were assessed.
Results: Three hundred and ninety-one patients with documented TNs were enrolled in the study. The median (IQR) age was 46.00 (20.0) years, and 332 (84.9%) of the patients were female. The median (IQR) BMI was 30.27 (7.71) kg/m2, and most participants were euthyroid (64.0%) or exhibited hypothyroidism (28.6%), while a few had hyperthyroidism (7.4%). The outcome of thyroid ultrasound reports among the patients based on ACR TI-RADS was: ACR TI-RADS-1 (2.6%), ACR TI-RADS-2 (18.4%), ACR TI-RADS-3 (40.7%), ACR TI-RADS-4 (36.3%), and ACR TI-RADS-5 (2%). There was a high prevalence of obesity (51.66%) among the participants. In the univariate analysis, there was a significant association between obesity in these patients and age, gender, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, bronchial asthma, thyroidstimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), total cholesterol, and the finding of an ultrasound based on TI-RADS. In the multivariate analysis, older age (OR = 1.029 (95.0 % CI: 1.009-1.048) and female gender (OR = 3.806 (95.0% CI: 1.975-7.334) were significantly associated with obesity in adult patients with TNs.
Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of obesity among patients with TNs. Older age and female gender were significantly associated with obesity and TNs.