AB1339 Association of anti-thyroid antibodies and musculoskeletal pain in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis
Authors: P. Rodriguez Henriquez, R. López-Vargas, N. Mateos-Santacruz
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2018)

<h3>Background</h3> Autoimmune thyroiditis is closely associated with autoimmune diseases and can exhibit musculoskeletal pain as a clinical manifestation; the exact pathogenic mechanism of coexistence with other autoimmune disorders has not been clearly defined. There are very few studies that describe the association of anti-thyroid antibodies and musculoskeletal pain in patients with controlled autoimmune thyroiditis without rheumatologic disease <h3>Objectives</h3> To Determine the association of anti-thyroid antibodies and musculoskeletal pain in euthyroid patients with autoimmune thyroiditis who doesn't meet any criteria of a rheumatic disease <h3>Methods</h3> Fifty consecutive euthyroid (TSH test in a range of 0.34–5.6 μU/mL and Ft4 0.54–1.64 ng/dL) patients with a diagnosis of autoimmune thyroiditis (positive anti peroxidase antibodies [TPOAb]≥10 IU/mL and/or anti tiroglobulin antibodies [TGAb]≥5 IU/mL), who attended the endocrinology clinic in an one-year period were included. At the moment of enrollment the patients didn't meet any classification criteria of a rheumatic disease. The presence of musculoskeletal pain was assessed using the survey "Program of modified community orientation for rheumatic diseases" (COPCORD) phase II, validated for the Mexican population, and used as a tool to determine the prevalence of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases [<sup>6</sup>]. COPCORD questionnaire consists of several sections such as number of affected joints, anatomic sites and pain severity measured by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) with values ranged from 0 to 10. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed using the mean, range and standard deviation of variables. Correlations of statistical significance between groups were carried out using Spearman's rank correlation. P values&lt;0.05 were considered to be significant. <h3>Results</h3> 26 patients were TPOAb positive (830.76 IU/mL±1169.33 IU/mL); 41 patients were TGAb positive (257.126 IU/mL±629.344 IU/mL). There was a positive correlation between the presence of TPOAb with the number of affected joints (Spearman <i>r</i>=0.9618, p=0.00001) and with pain intensity (Spearman <i>r</i>=0. 9552, p=0.00001). Similarly, there was a positive relationship between TgAb with the number of joints affected (<i>r</i>=0. 0.7800, p=0.00001) and with pain intensity (<i>r</i>=0.7268, p=0.00001). <h3>Conclusions</h3> Our results suggests that in patients with controlled autoimmune thyroiditis, anti-thyroid antibody titers have a positive correlation with the presence of musculoskeletal pain and its severity; these findings deserve further study and research to establish the relationship of different autoantibodies present in autoimmune thyroid disease and musculoskeletal pain, as well as their role in rheumatic diseases, with a clinical importance not yet well established in this latter group. <h3>Reference</h3> [1] Alvarez-Nemegyei J, Peláez-Ballestas I, Rodríguez-Amado J, et al. Prevalence of rheumatic regional pain syndromes in adults from Mexico: A community survey using COPCORD for screening and syndrome-specific diagnostic criteria. J Rheumatol2011;38(86):15–20. [2] Tagoe C,E, Zezon A,, Khattri S, Castellanos P. Rheumatic manifestations of euthyroid, anti-thyroid antibody-positive patients. Rheumatol Int. 2013 Jul;33(7):1745–52. <h3>Disclosure of Interest</h3> None declared