Thyroid Disease in Kerala: New Data on Thyroid Autoimmunity
Abstract
Hakaru Hashimoto described Autoimmune Thyroiditis in 1912. Then he termed it “struma lymphomatosa” and described the infiltration of lymphoid cells as well as the formation of lymphoid follicles with a germinal center.
Among endocrine diseases, thyroid diseases are arguably the commonest and Kerala is no exception. A house to house survey from Cochin, published by us and indexed in Medline in 2009 revealed that thyroid function abnormalities were present in 19.6% of the adult population (n=986). 1The study also revealed that this population was iodine sufficient (median urinary iodine excretion of 211.4 mcg/l). About 9.5 % of the population had anti- thyroid peroxidase antibodies (anti-TPO). Among those patients with hypothyroidism, the prevalence of anti-TPO positivity was about 46%.
The present study, led by Dr KP Paulose, is an invaluable piece of excellent research because it documents, for the first time, the immunological and biochemical correlates of Kerala-based subjects with a histological diagnosis of Autoimmune Thyroiditis/ Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.
This underscores the importance of both a careful clinical examination of the gland to look for nodularity, as well as an ultrasound (and a guided FNAC) in cases where the gland is nodular.
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