Prevalence of hypothyroidism in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis.
Bowness P., Shotliff K., Middlemiss A., Myles AB.
The prevalence of thyroid disease and thyroid autoantibodies was evaluated in 367 patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and/or giant cell arteritis (GCA). Thirty-seven patients had antibodies to thyroid microsomes or thyroglobulin; 18 had hypothyroidism requiring thyroxine replacement therapy. The prevalence of hypothyroidism (4.9%) was significantly greater than that found in 84 control subjects.