The prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies in autoimmune connective tissue diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Aim

Patients with autoimmune connective tissue disease (ACTD) may have anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) and anti-thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb). This study aimed to compare the prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies in ACTD patients and controls.

Methods

All case-control studies published between 1980 and 2019 in English were searched from Medline, Embase, Web of Science, PubMed databases for meta-analysis and subgroup analyses.

Results

Total 10,321 ACTD cases and 12,949 healthy controls were included, and the prevalence of thyroid autoantibody positivity was higher in ACTD patients than in controls. Subgroup analysis revealed positive association between TgAb and ACTD in populations from all continents including European, Asian, African, and American. In addition, we found positive association between TgAb positivity and most ACTD cases including RA, SLE, pSS, and UCTD, positive association between TPOAb positivity and all ACTD cases including RA, SLE, pSS, SSc, and UCTD, and positive association between TPOAb positivity and ACTD in European, Asian, and African but not in American populations.

Conclusion

Thyroid autoantibodies are more prevalent in ACTD patients than in healthy controls. It is important to screen patients with ACTD for the presence of thyroid autoimmunity, and perform thyroid function tests in clinical evaluation of ACTD patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Autoimmune connective tissue disease
• thyroid autoantibody
• meta-analysis
• thyroglobulin
• thyroid peroxidase

Expert opinion

Thyroid autoantibodies are more prevalent in ACTD patients than in healthy controls. It is important to screen patients with ACTD for the presence of thyroid autoimmunity, and perform thyroid function tests in clinical evaluation of ACTD patients.

Authors’ contributions

Qinqin Wang and Jie Shangguan contributed equally. Wenzhong Que designed the study. Qinqin Wang, Jie Shangguan, Yanping Zhang, YiDan Pan and Yue Yuan collected and analyzed the data. Qinqin Wang and Wenzhong Que wrote the draft. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Review disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Data availability

All data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.