association of chronic urticaria and / or angioedema with thyroid autoimmunity

introduction: auto – immune disorders have been implicated as a cause for chronic uricaria and/ or angioedema and thyroid autoimmunity has been increasingly introduced to be associated with that. this study explores the association of thyroid autoimmunity with chronic urticaria and / or angioedema in isfahani patients. methods: anti – thyroperoxidase (ani – tpo) and anti – thyroglobulin (anti – tg) antibodies, t4 and tsh were detected in 57 patients with chronic urticaria and / or angioedema and were compared with that of normal subjects without chronic urticaria or other autoimmune diseases. results: anti – tpo and anti – tg antibodies had been increased in 26 (45.6%) and 28 (49%) of patients in case group, as compared to 8 (13.2%) and 10 (16.7%) of subjects in control group, respectively. in total, raised titers of thyroid autoantibodies were found in 34 (60%) and 12 (20%) of subjects in case and control groups, respectively. conclusion: considering the high prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies in patients with chronic urticaria and / or angioedema, these antibodies should be detected in affected patients, specially in young and middle– aged women.