Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of AITD patients and healthy donors. (a) Patients with different autoimmune thyroid diseases and healthy donors. (b) Subgroups of patients with Graves’ disease.
| a | HD (n = 49) |
HT (n = 78) |
GD (n = 144) |
P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | NA | 49 (35–55) | 49 (37–56) | 0.51 |
| Sex (female) | NA | 63 | 114 | 0.777 |
| FT4 (ng/dl) | NA | 1.17 (0.93–1.40) | 1.60 (1.14–2.55) | 0.000 |
| TSH (uU/ ml) | NA | 4.01 (2.09–6.67) | 0.01 (0.00–0.98) | 0.000 |
| TPOAb(UI/ml) | 20 (0–20) | 438 (174–771) | 155 (20–461) | 0.000 |
| TgAb (UI/ml) | 20 (0–20) | 336 (20–991) | 20 (20–557) | 0.002 |
| TRAb (U/l) | 0 (0–0) | 0.47 (0.19–0.69) | 2.70 (1.28–7.63) | 0.000 |
| VIP (pg/ml) | 364.11 (331.11–416.88) | 361.42 (309.28–424.03) | 334.24 (303.75–373.58) | 0.003 |
| b | Euthyroid GD (n = 36) | Hyperthyroid GD (n = 73) | Hypothyroid GD (n = 35) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sex (female) | 30 | 55 | 29 | 0.518 |
| Age (years) | 48 (40–54) | 47 (33–57) | 52 (33–60) | 0.773 |
| FT4 (ng/dl) | 1.12 (0.93–1.27) | 2.42 (1.95–3.36) | 1.19 (0.72–1.57) | 0.000 |
| TSH (uU/ ml) | 0.24 (0.01–1.94) | 0 (0–0.01) | 2.31 (0.5–10.16) | 0.000 |
| TPOAb (UI/ml) | 155 (20–459) | 165 (20–613) | 70 (20–300) | 0.297 |
| TgAb (UI/ml) | 20 (20–319) | 20 (20–649) | 20 (20–552) | 0.156 |
| TRAb (U/ml) | 2.39 (1.2–9.89) | 2.72 (1.58–8.0) | 3.21 (0.83–7.21) | 0.015 |
| VIP (pg/ml) | 346.07 (318.42–394.23) | 325.08 (295.73–351.29) | 353.63 (325.79–389.92) | 0.000 |
Values are given as the median and (interquartile range). HD (healthy donor), HT (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis), GD (Graves’ disease), FT4 (free thyroxine 4), TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone), TPOAb (thyroid peroxidase antibody), TgAb (thyroglobulin antibody), TRAb (TSH-receptor antibody), VIP (vasoactive intestinal peptide), NA (not available). Normal reference values for hormones and autoantibodies are: FT4 (ng/dl): 0.93–1.7; TSH (uU/ml): 0.27–5; TPOAb (UI/ml) < 100; TgAb (UI/ml) < 344; TRAb (U/l) < 0.7. P values are shown for Chi-square test (categorical values) and Kruskal–Wallis test (continuous variables). For more details, see “Methods” section.