Prevalence of Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients With Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria Attending a Tertiary Care Urticaria...

Background and objectives Existing studies have primarily focused on autoimmune thyroid disorders in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU); fewer studies have assessed thyroid function using routine thyroid function tests alone. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence and pattern of common thyroid disorders among CSU patients at a tertiary care center. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 123 patients aged above 18 years with CSU visiting the Urticaria OPD at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. After obtaining written informed consent, patients were assessed using a validated, interviewer-administered questionnaire and examined clinically. All patients underwent serum thyroid function testing, including free T3, free T4, and thyroid-stimulating hormone estimation by chemiluminescence Immunoassay. Data were entered into Microsoft Excel and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26 (Released 2018; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States) to determine the prevalence and pattern of thyroid disorders among CSU patients. Chi-square, Fisher's exact test, Mann-Whitney U test, and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were used for inferential analysis. Results The prevalence of thyroid abnormalities among patients with CSU was 29 of 123 patients (23.5%; 95% CI: 16.9-31.8%). Hypothyroidism was observed in 28 (22.8%) patients and constituted the majority of abnormalities, while hyperthyroidism was observed in one patient (0.8%). Thyroid dysfunction was observed in 16 (28.0%) patients aged <45 years and 13 (19.6%) patients aged ≥45 years (p=0.339). Female patients showed higher rates of thyroid dysfunction (27.1%) compared to male patients (15.8%), though this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.174). Conclusion The relatively high prevalence of thyroid dysfunction observed in this cohort suggests that thyroid function assessment may be considered in selected CSU patients, particularly where clinical suspicion exists.