(HealthDay News) -- Hypothyroidism is associated with increased risk of diabetes mellitus (DM); however, subclinical hypothyroidism appears to increase this risk only with statin use, according to research published online in Diabetes Care.

Naomi Gronich, M.D., from the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, and colleagues examined risk factors for the development of statin-associated DM in a 2-phase study. Risk factors were identified in a high-throughput in silico processing phase. In the second phase, the most prominent risk factor identified was confirmed in an observational cohort study at the largest health care organization in Israel. Overall, 39,263 statin nonusers were propensity score matched with 20,334 highly compliant statin initiators in 2004 to 2005; patients were followed through 2010.

The researchers found that in a multivariable model, hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism correlated with increased risk for DM (rate ratios, 1.53 and 1.75, respectively) among statin users and nonusers. The correlation between hypothyroidism and increased DM risk was seen for statin users and nonusers (rate ratios, 2.06 and 1.66, respectively). Subclinical hypothyroidism correlated with increased DM risk only for statin users (rate ratios, 1.94 [95% confidence interval, 1.13 to 3.34] for statin users and 1.2 [95% confidence interval, 0.52 to 2.75] for nonusers). There was no increased DM risk for patients with hypothyroidism treated with thyroid hormone replacement therapy.

"Hypothyroidism is a risk factor for DM," the authors write. "Subclinical hypothyroidism-associated risk for DM is prominent only upon statin use."

Two authors disclosed financial ties to Biovista.

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