Research Information System
Klinik Gelisim, vol.9, no.3, pp.4101-4105, 1996 (Scopus)
Objective: To determine whether there is a relationship between serum levels of TSH and anti-thyroid antibodies and, the potential effect of L-thyroxine replacement therapy art serum levels of anti-thyroid antibodies in subclinical and hypothyroidism resulting from Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Design: Thirty-eight women with subclinical hypothyroidism resulting from Hashimoto's thyroiditis participated in this study. Twenty of the 38 women received L-thyroxine (group A), and the remaining 18 women were observed without any therapy (group B) for 12 months. Serum TSH, anti-microsomal (anti-M) and anti-thyroglobulin (anti-T) antibodies were measured at baseline and at the 6th and 12th month of the study. Results: At baseline when all the subjects wore combined a slight but significant positive correlation was found between the serum levels of TSH and anti-M antibodies (r=0.33, p<0.05). The mean serum levels of TSH, anti-M and anti-T antibodies of group B did not change at the 6th and 12th month of the study. On the other hand, the mean serum levels of serum TSH, anti-M and anti-T antibodies of group A decreased significantly (p<0.0001) at the 6th month of the L-thyroxine therapy. Further reductions in the levels of anti-M and anti-T antibodies observed between the 6th and 12th month of L-thyroxine therapy were not statistically significant. At the 12th month of the study, the serum levels of anti-M and anti-T antibodies of group A were significantly lower than those of group B. Conclusion: These results show that there is a direct relationship between serum levels of TSH and anti-M antibodies, and the normalization of serum TSH with L-thyroxine therapy decreases the levels of anti-thyroid antibodies in subjects with subclinical hypothyroidism resulting from Hashimoto's thyroiditis.