title: Prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus among patients of hypothyroidism in a tertiary care center.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypothyroidism is a common public health problem in India. With iodine sufficiency, autoimmune thyroiditis is becoming the most important etiology of hypothyroidism. Often, thyroiditis is associated with other systemic autoimmune diseases.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We undertook thisobservational study to find the prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) amongst the hypothyroid patients at our Institution.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is probably the first study of its kind from India.
  
  
  METHODS
  185 patients with diagnosed hypothyroidism were included and screening for SLE was done by standard epidemiological criteria. Majority of the patients (63.8%) were young adults (20-40 years).
  
  
  METHODS
  Two by two contingency tables were analyzed by Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test as needed. Logistic regression model was used considering the presence of SLE as a dependent variable.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eleven (5.94%) patients were found to have SLE. However, anti nuclear factor was positive in 145 cases (78.4%). Of the patients with SLE, 8 (72.7%) were found to be anti TPO positive, but the titers of ANF and anti TPO did not correlate. Presence of discoid rash, haematological criteria and presence of antibodies like anti-dsDNA were significantly correlated with the presence of SLE in hypothyroid patients. Presence of ANF was also correlated with the grade of goiter (r=0.62; P<0.05). Also four patients with SLE had a positive family history (OR=9.37). Logistic regression model showed anti-TPO has OR=1.54 (P=0.02) for the development of SLE.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prevalence of SLE in hypothyroid patients is high compared to the general population, especially, as thyroiditis is very common in SLE.
authors: Department of Medicine, Medical College, Kolkata, India.
authors: Rudrajit
authors: R
authors: Paul
authors: Pradip
authors: P
authors: Raychaudhuri
authors: Pradip Kumar
authors: PK
authors: Sinha
authors: Sekhar
authors: S
authors: Mookerjee
authors: Kaushik
authors: K
authors: Pandit
authors: Gouranga
authors: G
authors: Santra