Thyroid Dysfunctions in a Sample of Egyptian Children and Adolescents with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Relation to Disease Activity and Duration.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, autoimmune, inflammatory disease affects any organ of the body, including the thyroid gland. Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism have been found in SLE patients more frequently than general population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of autoimmune thyroid dysfunctions in juvenile SLE and its relation to disease activity and duration. A prospective case-control study was carried on 40 children with juvenile SLE and 30 healthy as controls, all were subjected to measurement of serum TSH, Free T3, Free T4 and anti-TG by ELISA. The SLEDAI scoring system was used to evaluate the disease activity. Fourteen patients (35%) demonstrated thyroid dysfunctions, in the form of; euthyroid sick syndrome in 6 (15%), overt hypothyroidism in 4 (10%), hyperthyroidism in 2 (5%) and subclinical hyperthyroidism in 2 cases (5%). Positive anti-TG was detected in 8 cases (20%) with a significant (P<0.05) increase in mean levels of serum anti-thyroglobulin antibodies in patients (38.25±15.224 Iu/ml) as compared to controls (22.79±3.71 Iu/ml). There was a significant positive correlation between SLEDAI and anti-TG and a significant negative correlation between disease duration and anti-TG, TSH In conclusion; thyroid dysfunctions increase in children with SLE patients and correlate with severity of the disease.