Publication:

The prevalence of thyroid function test abnormalities and serum thyroid autoantibodies in vitiligo and alopecia areata patients in Saudi Arabian population

Background Alopecia areata (AA) and vitiligo are immune-mediated inflammatory diseases characterized by hair loss and depigmented macules, respectively. It is often associated with other autoimmune conditions especially with autoimmune thyroid disorders indicating a potential role of autoimmunity in its development.

Methods A 222 patients, 113 AA and 109 vitiligo diagnosed, were retrospectively reviewed. We analyzed TG-Ab, TPO-Ab, Thyroid function tests (free T3, free T4, and TSH) in all patients.

Results In vitiligo patients, 11% (n=12) had elevated levels of anti-TG levels and 26.6% (n=29) had elevated levels of anti-TPO, Thyroid hormonal abnormalities were found in 15.6% (n=17) of vitiligo patients, and fT4 was elevated in 1.83% (n=2) patients. Within AA patients, 15.9% (n=18) had anti-TG elevation and 23.9% (n=27) had anti-TPO elevation, thyroid hormonal abnormalities were found in 16.8% (n=19), and fT4 was high in 0.88% (n=1) patient. No significant difference was found between the two groups for all measured parameters. No statistically significant correlation between the gender of the patients and the diagnosis, thyroid hormonal test, and thyroid autoantibody levels could be detected (p>0.05)

Conclusions In our study, impaired thyroid functions and thyroid autoantibodies in vitiligo and AA patients were identified at similar rates of the previous studies. Moreover, we could not find differences in comparison to other ethnicities.