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. 2023 Oct 29;59(11):1911.
doi: 10.3390/medicina59111911.

Thyroid Disease and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Lambros Athanassiou  1 , Ifigenia Kostoglou-Athanassiou  2 , Georgia Kaiafa  3 , Pavlos Tsakiridis  4 , Nikolaos Koukosias  4 , Spyridon Mitsoulis  4 , Christos Savopoulos  3 , Panagiotis Athanassiou  4
Affiliations

Thyroid Disease and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Lambros Athanassiou et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Thyroid disease has been associated with autoimmune disorders. As systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disease with diverse manifestations spanning across all organ systems, the relationship of SLE with thyroid disorders needs investigation. In particular, the relationship of SLE with autoimmune thyroid disease has attracted the interest of the research community. The aim was to evaluate the relationship of SLE with autoimmune thyroid disease. Materials and Methods: A cohort of 45 consecutive patients with a mean age of 47.97 years (range 21-79 years) and 45 age- and sex-matched controls were prospectively studied over a period of 12 months for the presence of thyroid disease and the prevalence of antithyroid antibodies. Results: Four patients (8.9%) were found to suffer from primary hypothyroidism, five (11.11%) from subclinical hypothyroidism and one (2.22%) from hyperthyroidism, whereas one (2.22%) of the controls had primary hypothyroidism and one (2.22%) had hyperthyroidism. Five patients (11.11%) had a thyroid hormone profile that was compatible with the presence of euthyroid sick syndrome. Thyroid peroxidase (TPOab) and thyroglobulin (Tgab) antibodies were detected in 20/45 and 15/45 of the SLE population and in 7/45 and 5/45 of the controls, respectively (p < 0.05, chi-square test). Conclusions: In conclusion, the incidence of clinical thyroid disease is greater amongst SLE patients than in a control population, and in a significant number of these patients, antithyroid antibodies are detectable. Thus, a subset of lupus patients appears to be predisposed to the development of thyroid disease, and this should be considered when evaluating patients with SLE.

Keywords: autoimmune thyroid disease; hyperthyroidism; hypothyroidism; systemic lupus erythematosus; thyroglobulin antibodies; thyroid peroxidase antibodies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of patients suffering from clinical and subclinical hypothyroidism in the SLE and the control groups.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of SLE patients with clinical and subclinical hypothyroidism.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentages of patients with clinical hypothyroidism in the SLE and control groups.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Numbers of SLE patients and controls with detectable TPOab, chi square test p = 0.0028, Fisher’s exact test = 0.0052.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Numbers of SLE patients and controls with detectable Tgab, chi-square test p = 0.0028, Fisher’s exact test = 0.021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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