title: Thyroid autoimmunity and Behçet's disease: is there a significant association?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Behcet's disease (BD) could be regarded as an autoimmune disease in many aspects. Autoimmune thyroid disease (ATD) is frequently accompanied by other various autoimmune diseases. Nevertheless, there is not still enough data showing the association between BD and ATD. In addition, no controlled study is present in the PubMed, which evaluates thyroidal autoimmunity using antithyroid peroxidase antibody in a large series of patients with BD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We aimed to investigate the frequency of ATD in patients with BD. The study included 124 patients with BD and 99 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Autoimmune thyroiditis was noted in 21 cases (16.9%) with BD. In the control group, 22 cases (22.22%) were diagnosed as autoimmune thyroiditis. There was no difference between the groups in respect to thyroid autoantibodies (P>0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between baseline TSH levels of the BD patients and of the controls (P>0.05). Statistically, the mean serum free T4 levels of the patients with BD were higher than those of the controls (P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  No association could be found between BD and ATD. Therefore, it is not of significance to investigate thyroid autoimmunity in BD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Haydarpaşa Numune Training and Research Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Vakif University, İstanbul, Turkey. cebecifiliz@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Filiz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cebeci
authors.forename: Nahide
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Onsun
authors.forename: Ayşe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pekdemir
authors.forename: Ahmet R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Uras
authors.forename: Kadir
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kayataş
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010544:Peroxidases / Q000032:analysis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013954:Thyroglobulin / Q000032:analysis; D013960:Thyroid Function Tests; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D013967:Thyroiditis, Autoimmune / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000032:analysis; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000032:analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D013972:Thyrotropin; D013954:Thyroglobulin; D010544:Peroxidases; D013974:Thyroxine