The Comparative Study on the Status of Bone Metabolism and Thyroid Function in Diabetic Patients with or without Ketosis or Ketoacidosis

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to identify changes in bone turnover markers and thyroid function in diabetic ketosis (DK) and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

Materials and Methods

We compared data from the Department of Endocrinology at Shanghai Pudong Hospital from 2018 to 2020 on the pancreatic status and previous glucose control, bone transformation, calcium homeostasis, and thyroid function in groups with diabetes (DM alone, n=602), DK (n=232), and DKA (n=60). Similar comparisons were made in recurrent DK (A) (n=17) and single DK (A) (n=272).

Results

The fasting C-peptide level decreased significantly, but hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels were higher in DK or DKA (p<0.05). Blood calcium and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25-OH-VitD3) levels were significantly lower in DKA (p<0.05), but parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels remained constant across all three groups. The N-terminal middle molecular fragment of osteocalcin (N-MID) and β-C terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type 1 collagen (β-CTX) showed significant inverse alterations in DKA, regardless of gender or age (p<0.05). Otherwise, DKA significantly inhibited thyroid function (p<0.05). Furthermore, Spearman correlation analyses revealed a relationship between N-MID and HbA1c in DM alone (r=−0.27, p<0.01), while total triiodothyronine (TT3, r=0.62, p<0.01) or free T3 (FT3, r=0.61, p<0.01) in DK, and DKA (TT3, r=0.45, p<0.01; FT3, r=0.43, p<0.01). Multilinear regression analyses revealed that β-CTX (β=0.564), HbA1c (β=−0.196), TT3 (β=0.183), and 25-OH-VitD3 (β=−0.120) were the only independent determinants of N-MID in DM, whereas FT3 (β=0.491), β-CTX (β=0.315) in DK, and FT3 (β=0.420), β-CTX (β=0.367), TG (β=−0.278) in DKA. Only 25-OH-VitD3 was found to be significantly lower in recurrent DK (A) than in single onset DK (A) (p<0.05), and β-CTX (β=0.745) was found to be significantly independently associated with N-MID.

Conclusion

Our preliminary findings show a dramatic change in bone turnover markers in DM patients with DK and DKA, and this change may be related to thyroid function.