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PO:03:077 Antithyroid antibodies and thyroid dysfunction in women with systemic lupus erythematosus

lupusscimed · 2026-03-01 · canonical JSON source

15 visible annotations · policy: published · automated confidence ≥ 75.00%

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Objectives To clarify the thyroid dysfunction and anti-thyroid antibodies detection frequencies, as well as the relationship with rheumatic disease features in women with systemic lupus erhytematosus (SLE)Methods The study included 51 women with SLE without diabetes mellitus, thyroid surgery or radioiodine therapy. The median age was 33 [26;35] years, and SLE duration was 72 [3;156] months. SLE activity was high and very high (SLEDAI-2K >10) in 17 (33.3%) patients, and moderate (SLEDAI-2K = 5-10) in 15 (29.4%) patients. Glucocorticoids were received by 41 (80.4%), hydroxychloroquine - 38 (74.5%), immunosuppressants – 18 (35.3%) patients. Over the last year, patients did not receive biological agents. The levels of thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO Ab) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TG Ab) were measured using ELISA (Oregentec Diagnostika GmbH), and the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels were measured using Microplate Enzyme Immunoassay (Monobind Inc.).Results Elevated anti-thyroid antibodies levels were detected in 7 (13.7%) patients: combined increase in TPO Ab and TG Ab were in 5, an increase only in TPO Ab – in 1, an increase only in TG Ab – in 1. There was an abnormal TSH levels in 8 (15.7%) women: increased – in 6, decreased – in 2. Of these, 1 patient had hypothyroidism combined with a high level of TG Ab, another with hyperthyroidism had elevated TPO Ab and TG Ab. Three patients had already been receiving levothyroxine due to previously diagnosed hypothyroidism, two of them had TSH levels within the reference range, but their anti-thyroid antibodies remained elevated, and 1 woman had low TSH levels but normal TPO Ab as well as TG Ab levels. Patients with high anti-thyroid antibodies levels compared to patients with normal antibodies levels had a tendency to have more alopecia (71.4% vs. 27.3%, p=0.06) and thrombocytopenia (28.6% vs. 2.3%, p=0.06). Hypothyroid patients had a tendency to have serositis more frequently than patients with normal thyroid function (66.7% vs. 20.9%, p=0.06). No other differences were found.Conclusions Thyroid dysfunction and elevated anti-thyroid antibodies levels are quite common in SLE, but they do not always occur in the same patient and may be associated with various clinical manifestations of rheumatic disease.