Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2016) 41 EP1000 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.41.EP1000

ECE2016 Eposter Presentations Thyroid (non-cancer) (120 abstracts)

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) and mental illness: An evaluation of parietal cell antibodies, intrinsic factor antibodies, vitamin B12 and psychiatric symptoms in patients with AITD and Non-AITD controls

Doerte Leineweber 1 , Britta Galling 2 & Thomas H. Schürmeyer 1


1Abt. Innere Medizin II, Klinikum Mutterhaus der Borromäerinnen, Trier, Germany; 2The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Psychiatry Research, Glen Oaks, New York, USA.


Introduction: Associations of autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) with autoimmune gastri-tis and mental disorders have been suggested, but evidence for a connection is lacking.

Methods: We compared the co-incidence of parietal cell antibodies (PCA>20 RE/ml), intrinsic factor antibodies (IFA>1.19 AU/ml), vitamin B12 plasma levels (<200 pg/ml) and mental illness in patients with AITD (n=398), e.g. active (TPO+), atrophic (TPO−) and solely thyroglobulin positive (TG+) Hashimoto’s and Grave’s disease (TRAB+), and Non-AITD controls (n=144; no thyroid disorder or non-autoimmune hypothyroidism). Results show the overall prevalence of mental illness as well as anxiety disorders (A), depression (D) and somatization disorder (S) separately.

Results: A higher rate of PCA but not IFA was prevalent in AITS vs Non-AITD (22.1% vs 9.7%). Low vitamin B12 levels were found more frequently in TPO− (8.3%) and TG+(8.7%) Hashimoto’s and Grave’s disease (10.8%, P<0.05). Rates of mental illness were alike in all groups. No association of mental illness with PCA, IFA or vitamin B12 was found.

Mental illness (%)
nAnti-bodyPCA↑ %IFA↑ %B12↓ %allADS
AITD39822.13.84.831.45.611.113.8
Active Hashimoto278TPO+21.62.52.931.76.811.914.4
Atrophic Hashimoto60TPO−33.310.08.330.06.715.010.0
TG+ Hashimoto23TG+8.78.78.743.517.40.030.4
Grave’s disease37TRAB+16.20.010.824.38.15.45.4
Non AITD1449.72.83.532.67.014.611.1
Hypothyreoidism9607.31.03.132.35.217.79.4
No thyroid disease48014.66.34.233.310.48.314.6
n= patients; Bold numbers indicate a significant difference (P< 0.05).

Conclusion: PCA, but not IFA are frequently observed in AITD, and no association of AITD and mental illness was evident in the preliminary results of the present study.

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