Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recently, the abnormal presence of thyroglobulin antibody (TG-Ab) and thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO-Ab) has been reported in vitiligo patients, but presence of TG-Ab and TPO-Ab in patients of different ages and gender, and its association with vitiligo and thyroid autoimmunity has rarely been reported. The aim of our research was to determine whether vitiligo was associated with thyroid autoimmunity and figure out its relationship with age and gender. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed TG-Ab, TPO-Ab in age and gender matched 87 vitiligo patients and 90 healthy controls, the patients of vitiligo who were positive for the presence of TG-Ab and TPO-Ab were followed up to confirm autoimmune thyroid disease subsequently. RESULTS: Results showed that the frequencies of TG-Ab (23.0%, 20/87) positivity and TPO-AB (24.1%, 21/87) in vitiligo patients were significantly higher than that in healthy controls (P < 0.05). Moreover, The positivity for of TG-Ab and TPO-Ab was higher in 11-20-year age group and 21-40-year age group than that in age matched healthy controls. We found female patients with vitiligo had higher positive frequencies of TG-Ab and TPO-Ab than healthy female controls. (34.1% vs. 8.8% and 34.1% vs. 11.1%, P = 0.000 and P = 0.011). When 20 patients with TG-Ab and TPO-Ab positivity were followed up for three monthes, 14 of them (70%) were diagnosed as having autoimmune thyroid disease compared with age-matched healthy controls (16.7%, χ(2) = 5.4, P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: TG-Ab and TPO-Ab are likely to be found in female teenagers with vitiligo, and are relevant with respect to subsequent development autoimmune thyroid disease.