Autoantibodies highly increased in patients with thyroid dysfunction.

To evaluate the significance of antithyroid antibodie levels, five hundred and twenty-six patients with thyroid diseases and 292 health subjects from Yuci District, Shanxi Province, China, were studied. Serum levels were determined for thyroid hormone receptor antibody (TRAb), microsomal antibody (TMAb) and thyroglobulin antibody (TGAb). Among patients, the percentages for nodular goiter and thyroid adenoma, Graves' disease, and Hashimoto's thyroiditis are 44.1%, 19.6% and 17.7%, respectively. The ratios of female to male were 2.0 to 15.6. Antibody-positive patients for TMAb, TGAb and TRAb were detectable as 94.6%, 76.3% and 20.4% for Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and 40.0%, 30.0% and 90.3% for Graves's disease. In conclusion, the high levels of the TRAb in Graves' disease, and those of the TGAb/TMAb in Hashimoto's thyroiditis and idiopathic hypothyroidism are meaningful for characterizing the epidemiological basis of the diseases and for using as prognostic indicators for the relapse in individual patients.