SCREENING OF THYROID AUTOANTIBODIES ANTI-TG, ANTI-TPO AND ITS CORRELATION WITH CLINICAL THYROID DISEASES IN VITILIGO IN THE NORTH-EASTERN REGION OF INDIA

Background and aims: Vitiligo is an acquired sometimes familial depigmentary disorder of the skin and hair that results from selective destruction of melanocytes or pigment cells. It is the single most important non-neo plastic disease that involves both the immune system and melanocytes which are subsequently destroyed and the affected area turns pale and becomes white. The precise cause of vitiligo is complex but some evidences are always suggesting that it is caused by a combination of autoimmune, genetic and environmental factors. Over half of the people with vitiligo have acquired some loss of pigment cells before the age of 20 years. The prevalence of the disease is between 1-2% in general population. Therefore, the present study is taken up to evaluate the prevalence of thyroid diseases in vitiligo patients. Methods:It is a prospective, randomized and controlled study. 90 vitiligo patients attending the Dermatology OPD and vitiligo clinic are enrolled in the study. Thirty five apparently healthy, age and sex matched individuals are selected to serve as control. A prescribed proforma containing all the demographic data, relevant questionnaire were recorded for each and every case with brief clinical history suggestive of any thyroid disease as well as those referred by the clinicians.interpretationsare made. P value < 0.05 is considered significant. The Quantitative Determination of Thyroglobulin (Tg) Autoantibodies in Human Serum or Plasma by a Microplate Enzyme Immunoassay. Results:Vitiligo group, thirty four (37.78%) patients have clinical hypothyroidism while 9(10%) patients have clinical hyperthyroidism. This difference in the distribution is statistically significant (P<0.05) with a chi-square value of 10.08. The datas are entered, analysed and computed with SPSS version 15 software and well known statistical test like Chi-square, students t test have been advocated wherever found applicable. The necessary interpretations are made. P value < 0.05 is considered significant. Conclusion:There is increased incidence of autoimmune thyroid diseases among vitiligopatients. Various thyroid antibodies were detected in thyroid disorders, suggesting that these thyroid antibodies could act as sensitive markers for detection of early and subclinical autoimmune disorders of thyroid gland including Graves disease and Hashimotos thyroiditis. The reason beingvitiligo usually precedes the onset of thyroid dysfunction. Therefore, these thyroid autoantibodies specially anti-TPO, anti-TG should be included along with thyroid parameters TSH, T3,T4 in routine investigation of vitiligo, as association of vitiligo with autoimmune thyroid disease is very much common in the North - Eastern region of India.