"Effect of preventing type 2 diabetes during regular exercise after thyroidectomy"

Sep 01, 2024

Professor Kim Kyung-soo's team at Cha Medical University Bundang Cha Hospital (Director Yoon Sang-wook) confirmed that type 2 diabetes can be prevented if patients who have undergone thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer exercise regularly. The study was published in the latest issue of the international journal 『BMC Medicine』.

Recently, the number of diabetic patients in Korea has been steadily increasing. According to a diabetes fact sheet published by the Korean Diabetes Association, one in six adults over the age of 30 in Korea in 2020 is diabetic. Thyroid function and glucose metabolism are closely related, which increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in people with thyroid dysfunction. Recently, it has been reported that thyroid cancer patients who underwent thyroidectomy also have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. However, it is not yet clear how regular exercise in thyroid cancer patients before and after thyroidectomy affects the development of type 2 diabetes.

Professor Kim Kyung-soo's research team at Bundang Cha Hospital conducted a study on 69,526 thyroid cancer patients who underwent thyroidectomy from 2010 to 2016 using data from the National Health Insurance Service to analyze how regular exercise affects the presence or absence of type 2 diabetes. Regular exercise was defined as exercise of medium intensity or higher at least once a week.

The study was analyzed in four groups: ▲ the patient non-exerciser group who did not exercise regularly before and after thyroidectomy ▲ the new exerciser group who started exercising regularly after thyroidectomy ▲ the exercise dropout group who exercised regularly after thyroidectomy ▲ the exercise maintenance group who exercised regularly before and after thyroidectomy.

After an average of 4.5 years of follow-up and analysis of the incidence of type 2 diabetes, 10.77 people per 1,000 years in the group who did not exercise regularly, 8.28 people in the group who did not exercise after thyroidectomy, 8.59 people in the group who did not exercise regularly after thyroidectomy, and 7.61 people in the group who did not exercise regularly before and after thyroidectomy were significantly higher in patients who did not exercise regularly before and after thyroidectomy.

In addition, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes based on patients who did not exercise at all was 13% lower in patients who started regular exercise after thyroidectomy, 19% in patients who did not exercise after regular exercise, and 16% in patients who exercised regularly before and after thyroidectomy.

The study is significant in that it has proven with objective figures that regular exercise before and after surgery can prevent type 2 diabetes at a time when it is not yet clear how regular exercise before and after thyroid cancer patients affects their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Professor Kim Kyung-soo said, "As a result of the analysis, regular exercise before or after thyroidectomy in thyroid cancer patients decreased the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. In patients who underwent thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer, even if they did not exercise normally, regular exercise after surgery could prevent type 2 diabetes."



'Effect of preventing type 2 diabetes during regular exercise after thyroidectomy'
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