Thyroid Autoantibody Levels during Lithium Therapy

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Abstract
The study of the levels of thyroid antibodies was conducted in 58 patients treated with Li and in 40 subjects who received other psychotropic drugs and who were used as controls. The measure of the antithyroglobulin antibodies was made by passive hemagglutination and that of the antimicrosomal antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence. For the whole control group, the research of the antithyroglobulin antibodies was positive in 3 cases (7.5%). For the 58 patients treated with Li, this research was positive in 11 subjects (19%); thus, Li seems to cause immunological reactions in the thyroid. Five Li-treated patients developed a goiter. Antibody determination was positive in only 2 subjects and was negative in the others. The measure of antithyroid antibodies before Li did not enable prediction of the emergence of thyroid complications. On the contrary, subjects treated with Li presented significantly high antibody levels without developing clinical thyroid manifestations.

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