Prevalence of thyroid autoimmunity in a group of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus in Londrina, PR

Abstract

Thyroid autoimmunity is a frequent comorbid condition subjects with in type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1). We evaluated the prevalence of antithyroid autoantibodies (antimicrosomal, antithyroglobulin and antithyroid peroxidase), in addition to clinical (gender, age, DM duration) and laboratory (TSH, HbA1) characteristics of 101 patients (mean age 20 +/- 9.6 years; 62 female) followed at the HC/UEL. RESULTS: Autoantibodies were found in 31 subjects (30.7%). In the age group <12 years, 15% had thyroid antibodies; from 12 to 18 years, 32%, and >18 years, 35.7% (p= 0.22). Among the patients with positive antibodies, 40% had some thyroid dysfunction vs only 4.4% of those without antibodies (p<0.001). The average TSH was higher in the positive than in negative group (3.75 and 2.32microU/mL, respectively; p= 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of thyroid antibodies was 30.7%, in accordance to the literature.