INTRODUCTION Melasma is a common chronic, acquired pigmentation disorder with a significant impact on the quality of life of patients. AIM To investigate the etiopathogenetic factors, thyroid functions and thyroid autoimmunity in patients with melasma. MATERIAL AND METHODS Forty-five women with melasma and 45 age-matched healthy women were included in the study group. A detailed history was...

OBJECTIVE To determine the reference intervals for thyroid function tests and the prevalence of thyroid autoimmunity in the Saudi population.   METHODS A cross-sectional prospective study was conducted in King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from January to June 2013. History and physical examination were obtained. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), and ...

Objective The tendency to autoimmune diseases has been reported to be increased in beta thalassemia minor (BTM). The aim of this study was to evaluate whether thyroid autoimmunity is higher in BTM. Methods Patients with BTM (n=86) and a healthy control group (n=93) were included in this cross-sectional case-control study. The two groups were compared in terms of anti-thyroglobulin (anti-TG) a...

Thyroid dysfunction is a common condition mainly affecting women, with a male to female ratio of around 1:10. An organ-specific autoimmune response is the underlying cause in the majority and susceptibility to thyroid autoimmunity is believed to be influenced by an interaction between genetic predisposition and environmental factors, in addition to endogenous factors such as age and sex (Vander...

BACKGROUND Thyroid disorders may affect all of the organ systems of the body and they are also highly associated with a wide variety of skin disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of thyroid function abnormalities and thyroid autoimmunity in patients with pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and to determine the association between thyroid disorders and clinical involvement and s...

The autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) are complex diseases which are caused by an interaction between susceptibility genes and environmental triggers. Genetic susceptibility in combination with external factors (e.g. dietary iodine) is believed to initiate the autoimmune response to thyroid antigens. Abundant epidemiological data, including family and twin studies, point to a strong genetic in...