title: High prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies at diagnosis of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Swedish children.
abstract: The prevalence of thyroglobulin autoantibodies and that of thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies were studied in serum samples from 52 children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, sampled at diagnosis and before the start of insulin treatment, with 386 non-diabetic schoolchildren (11 to 13 years of age) serving as control subjects. Using exactly the same sensitive solid-phase immunosorbent radioassay for both thyroid autoantibodies, with comparable sensitivity, we found the prevalences of both autoantibodies to be higher in the insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus group than in the control group, the difference being most pronounced for thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies. Thyroglobulin autoantibodies were positive in 33% of the diabetics versus 14% in the control group (p = 0.002), and thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies were positive in 38% versus 6% (p = 0.0001). The high prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies already at diagnosis stresses the importance of early screening for thyroid disease in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Lund, Malmö General Hospital, Sweden.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lindberg
authors.forename: U B
authors.initials: UB
authors.lastname: Ericsson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ljung
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ivarsson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007453:Iodide Peroxidase / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D013548:Sweden; D013954:Thyroglobulin / Q000276:immunology*; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D013954:Thyroglobulin; D007453:Iodide Peroxidase