Endocrine Abstracts

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.

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.