Assessment of endocrine function in males with pre-diabetes

Introduction and Aim: Diabetes mellitus is associated with various endocrine derangements and prediabetes is an intermediate condition between health and full-fledged disease state. Hormones of Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Thyroid (HPT), Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA), Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) axes and pineal gland were studied in males (n=105) with prediabetes. Materials and Methods: Based on fasting plasma glucose (FPG), the subjects were categorized as healthy controls, prediabetes, diabetes and various hormones were compared between these three groups. Results: Insulin levels showed a systematic increase from pre-diabetes to diabetes subjects. HPT axis had a semblance to “Primary hypothyroidism” with an increase in Thyrotropin-releasing-hormone (TRH), Thyroid-stimulating-hormone (TSH) and decrease in fT4 and fT3 with rise in glucose levels. HPA axis detected high Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (CRH), Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol in the overtly diabetic group while prediabetes values were comparable to control. The HPG axis demonstrated significantly high Gonadotropin-hormone-releasing-hormone (GnRH) in the diabetic group but not in the prediabetic. A graded increase in LH and significant decrease in testosterone and melatonin was observed with a rise in FPG. Conclusion: Thus, it could be concluded as endocrine gland damage due to hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia causes multiple endocrine dysfunctions in prediabetes that aggravates, as the patient turns diabetic.