Thyroid autoantibodies in autoimmune diseases

abnormalities in the thyroid function and thyroid autoantibodies have been frequently described in patients with autoimmune diseases but seldom in antiphospholipid syndrome patients. in order to determine the prevalence of thyroid function and autoimmune abnormalities, we compared serum thyrotropin (tsh, serum free thyroxine (t4) levels, thyroid antithyroglobulin (tgab) and antithyroperoxidase (tpoab) levels of 25 patients with systemic sclerosis, 25 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 13 patients with antiphospholipid syndrome to a control group of 113 healthy individuals. evaluation included a thorough clinical examination with particular attention to thyroid disease and a serologic immune profile including rheumatoid factor, antinuclear and anticardiolipin antibody measurements. subclinical hypothyroidism (4.2