Natural history of autoimmune thyroid disease

Most clinical endocrinologists would perceive that the progression of euthyroidism to overt autoimmune hypothyroidism (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) is slow whilst the transition to overt autoimmune hyperthyroidism (Graves’ disease) is far more rapid. However there is a paucity of studies testing this hypothesis.

Effraimidis and colleagues conducted a nested case-controlled study within the prospective Amsterdam autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) cohort study in which 790 healthy euthyroid women with family history of AITD were followed for five years. Thyroid function tests were assessed annually.

The results of their study suggests that progression to overt autoimmune hypothyroidism is gradual taking several years, whilst the progression to overt autoimmune hyperthyroidism is faster occurring within months. Effraimidis et al. (2011) European Journal of Endocrinology 164 (1) 107-113

Read the full article at DOI: 10.1530/EJE-10-0785.