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Abstract
To investigate whether there is a significant increase in thyroid autoimmunity in Egyptian children with FMF. Methods: This study was conducted on 70 children including 40 children patients already diagnosed with FMF and following up at the Pediatric Rheumatology Clinic, Cairo University Specialized Pediatric Hospital and 30 healthy children as control group. Diagnosis was determined according to new pediatric criteria of FMF. All patients were subjected to a questionnaire including detailed history with emphasis on disease severity. Serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (fT3), free thyroxine (fT4), and thyroid autoantibodies (anti-thyroid peroxidase and anti-thyroglobulin) were measured in all participants. Results: Although levels of thyroid hormones and antibodies were normal in all patients, statistically significant differences were found between serum levels of anti-thyroglobulin antibody, anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody, and fT3 between FMF patients and healthy controls (p <0.001, =0.03 and =0.001 respectively) . Serum TSH level and fT4 did not significantly differ between the 2 groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Although presence of autoimmune thyroiditis in FMF group compared to the control group was not statistically significant, thyroid autoantibodies were significantly higher in patients with FMF than control group. Studies with greater number of patients following up for a longer duration of time are required for evaluating the frequency of the autoimmune thyroiditis in patients with FMF