[Chronic urticaria, thyroiditis and autologous serum test].
BACKGROUND
The autoimmune nature of certain forms of chronic urticaria remains debatable. Aim of the study. To find a correlation in terms of autoimmune pattern between chronic urticaria and thyroiditis using the autologous serum test and the search for anti-thyroid antibodies.


METHODS
Study in a single center of 59 patients having consulted for urticaria that had progressed for more than six weeks and without precise etiology. An autologous serum test was conducted and anti-thyroid autoantibodies were searched for in the serum stored after the test.


RESULTS
Out of 59 patients, 51 had an interpretable autologous serum test and 57 underwent research for anti-thyroid antibodies. Twelve patients out 57 (21 p.cent) exhibited one or more types of positive (n=10) or borderline (n=2) anti-thyroid antibodies, and eight out of 12 (66.6 p.cent) had a known thyroid disease before the onset of urticaria. The systematic blood test permitted the discovery of 4 cases of unknown anti-thyroid antibodies. The symptoms regressed in two of these patients without any specific treatment, one patient was treated with L thyroxin for hyperthyroidism without any improvement in the symptoms and one other patient had normal thyroid function. Among these 12 patients, 11 underwent autologous serum tests, but only 3 of them exhibited clearly positive results and one was doubtful.


CONCLUSIONS
Within the limits of this study, we found a 21 p.cent rate of patients with chronic urticaria exhibiting one or more anti-thyroid antibodies. The positivity of the autologous serum test does not appear to be related with autoimmune thyroid disorders.
Vermeulen
C
C
Centre d'Allergologie, Hôpital Tenon, Paris. christophe.vermeulen@hcuge.ch
Mathelier-Fusade
P
P
Rouquette
A-M
AM
Bayrou
O
O
Pecquet
C
C
Leynadier
F
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013967:Thyroiditis, Autoimmune / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014581:Urticaria / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*
D001323:Autoantibodies