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[Does hepatitis c virus-related autoimmune thyroiditis exist? Reflections on a controlled study of 58 consecutive
E Blot1, J M Kerleau, H Lévesque
1Département de médecine interne, CHU de Rouen, France.
Purpose:
Interferon alpha treatment for virus C hepatitis may be responsible for autoimmune thyroiditis. Relationships between thyroiditis and virus C infection are still debated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the existence of this association.
Methods:
The prevalence of autoimmune thyroiditis in 58 patients (35 male and 23 female patients, mean age 52.6) with untreated virus C hepatitis was compared to that of 56 alcoholic patients (41 male and 15 female patients, mean age 53.8). Autoimmune thyroiditis was defined as the association of abnormal TSH and an increase in antithyroid antibodies.
Results:
We did not find any statistical difference in either autoimmune thyroiditis or antithyroid antibodies prevalences.
Conclusion:
Both our results and a literature review suggest that the few reported cases of related autoimmune thyroiditis and virus C infection are probably coincidental.