Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Obesity and thyroid neoplasia are common endocrinological diseases in the world and Iraq, and risk factors of this cancer are usually unmodifiable but there are some evidences that obesity is associated with increasing prevalence of many malignancies due to proposed pathophysiological mechanisms. Numerous research assessed the connections between thyroid disease outcomes and obesity, but only a small number took TBSRTC into account. The relationship between obesity and TIRADS is briefly discussed in a few published papers, while the great majority of studies investigating this relationship depend on BMI. To the best of my knowledge, no studies have examined the impact of central obesity on thyroid ultrasonography and FNA results in Iraq. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between thyroid FNA results in Iraqi patients and central obesity indicators as waist circumference and waist-height ratio.

Aim of the study: To Examine the effects of indexes of central obesity on cytological abnormalities of thyroid nodule FNA and risk of malignancy. To Assess the effectiveness of central obesity indices in predicting malignant TNs.

Patients and Methods: Patients with suspicious thyroid nodules who performed FNA at the cytology unit of AL Imamain AL-Kadhimain Medical City between October 2022 and April 2023 were considered for this cross-sectional research. who indicated for FNA according to ACR-TIRADS Criteria (grades TR3-TR5) and had Biochemical ‘euthyroidism’

Results: There was a significant association between TBSRTC categories and WtC and WtHR categories (P<0.0001). But, there was a no significant association between Bethesda classes (benign vs non-benign) and WtC classes (normal vs central obesity) (P=0.071), and there was no age or gender difference between benign and non-benign classes, P 0.502, 0.121, respectively. The efficacy of central obesity indices in predicting malignant TNs was assessed using ROC curve analysis, which revealed that the sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of WtHR at a cutoff value of 0.61 were (66.7%, 64.2%, 0.714; respectively), while those for WtC in females were (82.4%, 68.1%, 0.767; respectively) at a cutoff value of 99 cm, and those for WtC in males were (75.0%, 66.7%, 0.646; respectively) at a cutoff value of 105 cm. The sensitivity and specificity of WtHR alone increased to 76.2% and 66% when WtHR and WtC were combined to assess the risk of malignancy.

Conclusion: The TIRADS and BETHSDA categories of TNs are highly correlated with central adiposity indices, particularly in the elderly.