Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) are known to have a higher risk of developing other autoimmune diseases. The most common associated disorders are thyroid autoimmunity (Graves’ disease or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) and celiac disease.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of other autoimmune disorders in T1DM patients of our clinic.

Methods: We reviewed 269 files of children and adolescents with T1DM. Autoantibodies to thyroperoxidase (anti-TPO), thyroglobulin (anti-Tg), transglutaminase and endomysial were investigated in all patients. Thyroid function (TSH and fT4) and thyroid receptor antibodies (TRAbs) were determined when appropriated. Statistic study was made in IBM SPSS Statistics, Version 19.

Results: The patient’s mean age was 12.1 years, with a similar distribution between sex. The average duration of diabetes was 4.7 years.

Anti-TPO and anti-Tg antibodies were detected in 15.6% of our population, with significant female preponderance. Prevalence of thyroid dysfunction among diabetic patients was 5.3%, with one case of hypothyroidism and 12 subclinical hypothyroidisms. This risk of thyroid dysfunction was higher in cases with both positive antibodies compared with the presence of only one of them. The mean age of positive thyroid autoantibodies onset was 2.4 years after diabetic diagnosis.

10.2% of the population with T1DM had positive transglutaminase or endomysial autoantibodies titers. The prevalence of biopsy-confirmed celiac disease was 4.1%. Positive antibodies for celiac disease were detected after a mean of 2.3 years of diabetic diagnosis.

Graves’ disease was present in 3 cases with positive TRAbs. There was 1 case of Addison disease and 4 children presented at least 3 autoimmune diseases simultaneously.

Conclusion: Autoimmune thyroid disease and celiac disease occurs more frequently in children with T1DM than in general population, therefore screening at onset of the disease and repeated measurements of autoantibodies is recommended. Our results are comparable to the published data.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.