Thyroglobulin Antibodies and Their Measurement

Abstract

Thyroglobulin antibodies are one of the more commonly encountered autoantibodies. In a study of a representative sample of the US population, they were found in 11.5 % of those over age 12 (10.4 % in those with no evidence of thyroid dys-function). Prevalence of thyroglobulin antibodies was twice as high in women (15.2 %) as in men (7.6 %) and rose from presence in 6.3 % of teenagers to 21.6 % of those over age 80 [ 1 ]. Interestingly, in this study, the presence of thyroglobulin anti-bodies did not correlate with the presence of thyroid dysfunc-tion, while thyroid peroxidase antibodies did [ 1 ].