%0 Journal Article
%T Autoimmune Thyroid Disorders
%A M. A. Iddah
%A B. N. Macharia
%J ISRN Endocrinology
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/509764
%X Purpose of Review. Studies have been published in the field of autoimmune thyroid diseases since January 2005. The review is organized into areas of etiology, autoimmune features, autoantibodies, mechanism of thyroid cell injury, B-cell responses, and T-cell responses. Also it reviews the diagnosis and the relationship between autoimmune thyroid disease, neoplasm, and kidney disorders. Recent Findings. Autoimmune thyroid diseases have been reported in people living in different parts of the world including North America, Europe, Baalkans, Asia, Middle East, South America, and Africa though the reported figures do not fully reflect the number of people infected per year. Cases are unrecognized due to inaccurate diagnosis and hence are treated as other diseases. However, the most recent studies have shown that the human autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs) affect up to 5% of the general population and are seen mostly in women between 30 and 50 years. Summary. Autoimmune thyroid disease is the result of a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Overall, this review has expanded our understanding of the mechanism involved in pathogenesis of AITD and the relationship between autoimmune thyroid disease, neoplasm, and kidney disease. It has opened new lines of investigations that will ultimately result in a better clinical practice. 1. Introduction The principal diseases of the human thyroid gland are goiter (diffuse or nodular), hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, autoimmune thyroiditis, and neoplasm [1]. The thyroiditis types cause inflammation of thyroid tissue and can release preformed hormone from the colloid space, causing thyrotoxicosis, which is transient and followed by recovery or development of hypothyroidism. In acute and subacute thyroiditis, thyroid tenderness and neck pain are often present. On the other hand, silent thyroiditis is devoid of the local symptoms [2]. In the USA and Canada, the extrapolated prevalences are 5,873,108 and 650,157, respectively. In Austria and Belgium, the prevalences are 163,495 and 206,965, respectively. In Bosnia and Macedonia, the prevalences are 8,152 and 40,801, respectively. For China and India, the prevalences are 25,976,952 and 21,301,412, respectively, while in Egypt and Iran they are 1,522,348 and 1,350,064, respectively. South Africa has a prevalence of 888,969 [3]. The annual incidence of Hashimoto¡¯s thyroiditis worldwide is estimated to be 0.3¨C1.5 cases per 1000 persons, whereas Graves¡¯ disease is estimated at about 5 per 10,000 people [4]. The human AITDs broadly include Graves¡¯
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.endocrinology/2013/509764/