Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of the patients with autoimmune thyroid disease at the time of sampling.
| Graves' disease | Hashimoto's disease | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Past clinical history of thyrotoxicosis with elevated TRAb | Diffuse goitre and positive TgAb and/or McAb | ||||
| Controls | Intractable | In remission | Severe | Mild | |
| n (female/male) | 91 (81/10) | 57 (46/11) | 52 (48/4) | 52 (43/9) | 56 (54/2) |
| Age of onset (years) | 44·1 ± 12·2‡ | 33·6 ± 13·7 | 32·9 ± 11·7 | 37·5 ± 11·0 | 56·5 ± 8·5‡ |
| (range) | (21–58) | (11–66) | (16–66) | (10–49) | (50–76) |
| Goitre size (cm) | n.d. | 5·11 ± 1·42* | 4·03 ± 0·51 | 4·16 ± 1·01** | 5·43 ± 1·34 |
| Free T4 (ng/dl) | n.d. | 1·43 ± 0·92 | 1·31 ± 0·42 | 1·35 ± 0·37 | 1·25 ± 0·24 |
| Free T3 (pg/ml) | n.d. | 3·33 ± 2·99 | 2·98 ± 1·34 | 2·52 ± 0·65 | 2·82 ± 0·35 |
| TSH (µU/ml) | n.d. | 1·31 ± 1·15 | 1·81 ± 1·13 | 1·77 ± 1·36 | 2·53 ± 2·17 |
| TRAb (IU/l) | < 1·0 | 7·53 ± 13·1 | < 1·0 | < 1·0 | < 1·0 |
| (range) | (1·1–71·0) | ||||
| TgAb (2n × 100) | Negative | 2·9 ± 0·7 | 1·7 ± 1·5 | 7·7 ± 3·1** | 1·7 ± 2·7 |
| McAb (2n × 100) | Negative | 4·7 ± 2·7 | 5·6 ± 2·1 | 5·6 ± 2·9** | 2·3 ± 2·4 |
| Current treatment | None | Methimazole or PTU | None | l-thyroxine | None |
| Duration of treatment (years) | None | 13·1 ± 7·7 | 3·36 ± 0·96§ | 11·6 ± 9·4 | None |
| Current dose of anti-thyroid drug (mg/day)† | None | 14·3 ± 13·7 | None | None | None |
| (range) | (2·5–60) | ||||
| Current dose of l-thyroxine (µg/day) | None | None | None | 102·2 ± 39·2 | None |
| (range) | (50–250) | ||||
Data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation.
*
P < 0·01 (versus Graves' disease in remission);
**
P < 0·01 (versus mild Hashimoto's disease).
†
Doses are expressed as the comparable dose of Methimazole (50 mg of PTU was converted to 5 mg of Methimazole).
‡
Age at the time of sampling.
§
Duration of treatment with anti-thyroid drug before remission. n.d., not determined; T4, thyroxine; T3, triiodothyronine; TSH, thyrotrophin; TRA, anti-thyrotrophin receptor antibody; McAb, anti-thyroid microsomal antibody; TgAb, anti-thyroglobulin antibody; PTU, propylthiouracil.