A LONG-TERM FOLLOW UP OF PATIENTS WITH AUTOIMMUNE THYROID DISEASE

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Abstract
A survey in a general practice in the North‐East of England in 1963 detected thyroglobulin antibodies in 16.2% of women and 4.3% of men. High titres of antibodies were found in 4.6% of women and 1.6% of men. Forty‐six subjects with thyroglobulin antibodies (from an original total of fifty‐two) were studied in 1972 and forty of these were studied further in 1975. These subjects were compared with a group of age‐ and sex‐matched controls from the original survey. Three of the subjects had developed overt hypothyroidism by 1975 and a raised serum thyroid‐stimulating hormone (TSH) concentration was found more frequently in euthyroid subjects previously found to be antibody positive. There was a striking difference in the antibody studies in that only 26% of the previously antibody positive subjects had thyroglobulin antibodies in 1972 and 30% in 1975. A raised serum TSH concentration was found to correlate with cytoplasmic antibodies and particularly with the combination of cytoplasmic and thyroglobulin antibodies.