Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) and its Relation with TSH Levels in non-obese Patients with Primary Hypothyroidism

Bilal Natiq Nuaman^1, , Sanad Asaad Abd Al-Hussein² and Mohammed Sami Turki³

¹Assistant Professor and Consultant Endocrinologist at Al-Iraqia University, Baghdad. Iraq

²Specialist Endocrinologist at Al-Najaf Canter for Diabetes and Endocrinology, Al-Najaf. Iraq

³Specialist Endocrinologist at Al-Mirjan Medical City, Hilla. Iraq

Cite this paper:
Bilal Natiq Nuaman, Sanad Asaad Abd Al-Hussein and Mohammed Sami Turki. Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) and its Relation with TSH Levels in non-obese Patients with Primary Hypothyroidism. American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research. 2026; 14(2):37-40. doi: 10.12691/ajcmr-14-2-3

Abstract

Background: Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Fatty Liver Disease is the term recommended before few years for the well-known term of Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). It is the most common cause of liver disease worldwide. Thyroid hormones are important for the intra-hepatic metabolism of lipids. Many data suggest that hypothyroidism is one of the risk factors for MASLD. Aim: To studied the relationship between MASLD with TSH in patients with primary hypothyroidism. This relationship may provide valuable data for better understanding the effect of each of those two distinct disorders (thyroid dysfunctions and MASLD) which could be of value in establishing curative plan for them. Subjects and methods: across-sectional study with analytical utility conducted in the period between 1st October 2022 to 1st June 2023. The study population comprised of 60 subjects recruited from the endocrine centers/ Baghdad, Iraq who visited for a routine health check-up. In this study, patients with primary hypothyroidism on treatment with levothyroxine were evaluated for the presence of MASLD. Results: A total of 60 patients were enrolled in this study, of them 16 patients had MASLD contributed for 26.7% and the remaining 44 patients (73.3%) had no MASLD. TSH levels were significantly higher in MASLD group than non MAFLD, the mean TSH level was 6.0 vs. 3.9 (mIU/l), respectively, (P.value = 0.0002). Conclusion: The results of the present study show that hypothyroidism might have a direct and/or indirect role in the pathogenesis of MASLD.

Keywords:
MASLD HYPOTHYROIDISM NASH MAFLD OBESITY

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