[Autoimmunological and allergic disorders with Hashimoto and Graves disease]

Graves disease and Hashimoto disease are due to inappropriate activation of immunological system and production of the antibodies against thyroid gland. The aim of the study was to estimate potential risk of other autoagressive and allergic disease in patients with Hashimoto or Graves disease. 255 patients with Graves disease (216 females and 39 males) and 69 patients (63 females and 6 males) mean age 53.6 +/- 13.7 years were examined. The control group consists of 200 patients (175 females and 25 males) mean age 61.98 +/- 14.35 years with nodular goitre. There were 74 cases (i.e. 22.8%) of coexisting autoimmunological or allergic disorder among the patients with autoimmunological thyroid disorders (36 patients with Graves disease and 38 patients with Hashimoto disease). There were 20 cases of type 1 diabetes mellitus, 13 cases of bronchial asthma, 16 cases of Addison' disease, 4 cases of rheumatoid arthritis, 1 case of scleroderma, 4 cases of systemic lupus erythematosus, 2 cases of colitis ulcerosa, 2 cases of myasthenia gravis, 6 cases of Addison-Biermer disease, 3 cases of primary biliary cirrhosis and 3 cases of rhinitis allergica. There were 3 cases (1.5%) of additional auto-immunological or allergic disorder among the control subjects--1 case of type 1 diabetes mellitus and 2 cases of bronchial asthma. Because of the higher risk of coexisting auto-immnunologi-cal or allergic disorder, patients with autoimmunological thyroid disorders should be closely controlled.