Prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies in children, adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes in Kuwait

ABSTRACT

To investigate the prevalence of thyroid autoimmunity among children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes in Kuwait. In a mixed cross-sectional and longitudinal study, anti-thyroid peroxidase [anti-TPO] and anti-thyroglobulin [anti-TG] were measured in 232 subjects [118 males and 114 females] with type 1 diabetes. The mean age of the total study population was 10.9 +/- 3.6 years [range 1-21], and the median diabetes duration was 3.9 years [range 0-16]. At the initial screening, 57 out of 232 [24.6%] patients had positive antibodies, and of the remaining 175 patients, who were antibody negative, 131 [74.3%] were followed up for 4-9 years. 23 out of these 131 [17.7%] patients became antibody positive, with a cumulative prevalence of elevated antibodies of 34.5%. Anti-TPO was present in 34 [14.7%], anti-TG in 23 [9.9%] and both antibodies in 23 [9.9%] patients. Thyroid antibodies presented early within the first 5 years of the onset of diabetes [63.2 vs. 36.8%, p < 0.05]. The prevalence of elevated thyroid antibodies increased after the onset of puberty in both females and males [p < 0.0001]. A total of 58.7% of the patients with positive antibodies were females compared to 41% males [p < 0.0001]. The basal thyroid-stimulating hormone was higher in subjects with positive antibodies [5.1 +/- 10.7 mIU/l] compared to those who were antibody negative [1.79 +/- 0.87 mIU/l, p < 0.001]. Furthermore, 30 out of 232 [12.9%] patients developed thyroid dysfunction. In this study, a high prevalence of thyroid autoimmune antibodies was found in patients either at the onset of type 1 diabetes or within the 4-9 years of follow-up