Thyroid disease in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis
Abstract
Thyroid disease in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis A. T. Y. Chan , Z. Al‐Saffar and R. C. Bucknall Rheumatic Diseases Unit, Link 7C, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Prescot Street, Liverpool L7 8XP, UK Accepted September 18, 2000. S ir , We determined the degree of overlap between autoimmune thyroid disease and two non‐organ‐specific autoimmune diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Both SLE and RA are commonly encountered in our out‐patient practice and were chosen because of their clinical relevance. Sixty‐nine SLE and 64 RA patients fulfilling the American Rheumatism Association criteria for SLE 1 and RA 2 were selected for this study. Patients from both groups were found not to be in a flare of their disease based on the SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) for the SLE group and joint scores/acute‐phase response for the RA group. All patients had thyroid function tests performed, which included the measurement of thyroid‐stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroxine (T 4 ) and/or total triiodothyronine (T 3 ). Thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO Ab) was also measured in all patients. The results are summarized in Table 1⇔. View this table: In this window In a new window T able 1. Thyroid function and thyroid … Full Text of this Article