ESPE Abstracts

Background: Patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) are at a high risk of having other autoimmunological diseases. The most common coexisting disease is autoimmune thyroiditis, which is diagnosed in 15–30% diabetic patients. The incidence of the disease depends on the age, sex, and duration of T1DM.

Aims and objectives: This study aims to assess the prevalence of anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies in children with newly diagnosed T1DM.

Method: The analysis involved cases of new onset T1DM that were recorded from 01.01.2008 to 31.12.2014, in children ≤18 years from Wielkopolska Province, Poland. The measurement of the levels of TPO-ab, TG-ab and TSH, triiodothyronine and thyroxine (Immunoassay) were performed. The unpaired Student’s t-test was used to compare continuous variables, and the χ² test was used to compare percentages among different patients subgroups. A P value <0.05 was considered significant.

Results: 779 new cases of T1DM were identified. The mean age at diagnosis was 9.4±4.5 years. 575 patients were positive for IA2-Ab, 519 for GAD-Ab, and 371 for IAA. 612 patients were tested for thyroid antibodies, of which 163 children were positive for at least one antibody. The prevalence of TPO-ab and TG-ab were 10.5 and 10.4% respectively. GAD-Ab has occurred most frequently in thyroid Ab positive patients (P=0.04) and IAA in thyroid Ab negative patients (P 0.001). TPO-ab was reported significantly more often among girls (P=0.0008) and children up to 10 years of age (P=0.002). Patients with thyroid Ab positive results revealed elevated TSH level (P=0.03) and higher HbA1c level (P=0.02) compering to thyroid Ab negative individuals.

Conclusion: Children with T1DM should be screened for autoimmune thyroiditis since the time of the disease onset. Risk factors for coexisting autoimmune thyroiditis are the age, sex, and positive titer of GAD-Ab.