ESPE Abstracts (2014) 82 P-D-2-2-336

ESPE2014 Poster Category 2 Diabetes (1) (11 abstracts)

GAD Antibody Positivity is Associated with Higher Prevalence of Autoimmune Thyroiditis in Children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Saygin Abali a , Enes Celik b , Belma Haliloglu a , Serpil Bas a , Zeynep Atay a , Serap Turan a & Abdullah Bereket a


aPediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey; bDepartment of Pediatrics, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey


Background: The prevalence of autoimmune thyroid disease is higher in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

Objective and hypotheses: The aim of this study is to compare the frequency of autoimmune thyroiditis in children with T1DM according to the presence of diabetes autoantibodies.

Method: This study included 533 (49% female) children with T1DM based on hospital records from a single center. Frequency of glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GADA) (n=252), insulin antibodies (IA) (n=250), and islet cell antibodies (ICA) (n=264) determined at T1DM onset were compared with the frequency of positivity of anti-thyroglobulin and/or thyroid peroxidase antibodies (n=404) determined in a follow-up duration of 0–16.5 years (median 3.2 years).

Results: The mean age of diabetes onset is 8.53±4.11 (range 0.59–17.7). GADA, IA, and ICA were positive in 60.3, 31.6, and 54.5% of patients at the onset of diabetes respectively. At least one thyroid autoantibody was positive in 22% (n=89) of the patients during follow-up. This was more frequent in girls (28.9 vs 15.5%, P=0.001) than boys. The percent of autoimmune thyroiditis was 28.0 (n=37) and 10.8 (n=9), in GADA positive and negative patients respectively (χ2=8.950, P=0.003). IA or ICA positivity did not show any significant association with prevalence of autoimmune thyroiditis (IA positive vs negative 26.9 vs 18.4%, P=0.157 and ICA positive vs negative 23.0 vs 20.2%, P=0.612).

Conclusion: In children with T1DM, GADA positivity carries a higher risk for autoimmune thyroiditis.

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