title: Prevalence of hypothyroidism in rheumatoid arthritis and its correlation with disease activity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyse the prevalence of hypothyroidism in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to elucidate its correlation with disease activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 52 RA patients were enrolled in this study. All patients were assessed fully clinically and underwent routine laboratory investigation including thyroid function testing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hypothyroidism (defined as having a TSH level >4.20 μIU/mL) was observed in 20/52 (38.4%). Erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESR) were found significantly elevated in patients with hypothyroidism compared to those without (36.3 ± 24.2 vs. 24.6 ± 9.0 mm/h). Disease activity parameters such as DAS-28-ESR, tender joint count; VAS scores were also significantly higher in the former. A significant correlation with serum TSH levels was observed with ESR and DAS-28-ESR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Thyroid function test should be included in clinical evaluation of RA patients.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Sri Aurobindo Medical College and Post Graduate Institute, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Prakash
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.affiliation: Junior Resident, Department of Medicine, Sri Aurobindo Medical College and Post Graduate Institute, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India docaagarwal@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.affiliation: Junior Resident, Department of Medicine, Sri Aurobindo Medical College and Post Graduate Institute, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Sony
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vyas
authors.affiliation: Scientist Central Research Laboratory, Sri Aurobindo Medical College and Post Graduate Institute, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Ravindra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications*; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013960:Thyroid Function Tests
keywords: Autoimmune thyroid disease; disease activity score; hypothyroidism; rheumatoid arthritis (RA)