Tasleem Arif, Iffat Hassan, Parvaiz Anwar.
Does systemic sclerosis affect thyroid functions? a study upholding association.
J Pak Assoc Derma Jan ;27(1):4-9.

Objective To study the association of clinical and subclinical thyroid dysfunction in patients of systemic sclerosis and compare with age and sex matched controls without systemic sclerosis. Methods This hospital-based study involved 56 patients of systemic sclerosis and 300 age and sex matched controls without systemic sclerosis. Thyroid function tests, such as thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free tri-iodothyronine (T3), free thyroxine (T4), were advised in all cases, and anti thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) antibody, thyroid gland ultrasonography and fine needle aspiration cytology in selected patients only. Results Abnormal thyroid functions were found in 37.5% cases compared to 18.7% in control group, and 26.78% of cases had hypothyroidism compared to 16.7% among the controls. 21.4% patients among cases had subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) compared to 13.33% among controls. Conclusion Thyroid dysfunctions are common in systemic sclerosis and the same should be evaluated as routine clinical profiling of patients with systemic sclerosis.

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