Resumo

NAVARRO DESPAIGNE, Daisy A.. Tiroiditis autoinmune en población mayor de 50 años: aspectos clínicos, evolutivos y epidemiológicos. Rev cubana med [online]. 1997, vol.36, n.3, pp. 146-153. ISSN 1561-302X.

In order to know the frequency of autoimmune thyroiditis and its clinical consequences in a population over 50 years of age from an urban area of Havana City, 8 % of the population over 50 years (555 subjects from "La Rampa" polyclinics, Havana City) was selected by stratified random sampling. All patients underwent a clinical examination and the levels of antithyroglobulin antimicrosomal antibodies of TSH, T4t, T3t, CT3 were determined. Then the response of TSH after TRH was assessed in subjects presenting with positive antibodies and in a group without antibodies, and afterwards the peripheral repercussion of an altered response of TSH after TRH was verified by the determination of the systolic interval time, levels of serum cholesterol and turbidity. The findings are as follows: 1- goiter in 9.5 % of subjects; 2-positive antiTg and antiMc antibodies in 12 % and 23 % respectively, representing a risk factor for developing thyroid hypofunction; 3- prevalence of primary hypothyroidism in 3.9 % and hyperthyroidism in 0.3 %, and 4- that not always an altered response of TSH and TRH is accompanied by peripheral changes which may suggest subclinical thyroid dysfunction. It is concluded that in a population over 50 years of age it is necessary to look for autoinmune thyroiditis which constitutes a risk factor for primary hypothyroidism and if there is a subclinical thyroid dysfunction, medical treatment should not be administered until a similar disorder could be demonstrated in other organs.

Palavras-chave : THYROIDITIS, AUTOIMMUNE [immunology]; CHOLESTEROL OXIDASE [blood]; HYPOTHYROIDISM [epidemiology]; HYPERTHYROIDISM [epidemiology]; GOITER [immunology].