Inflammatory biomarkers in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: a comparative cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aims: Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is an autoimmune disorder impacting majorly females. HT is asymptomatic long-term and known to be affected by metabolic factors, genetics, and inflammation. The study aimed to compare inflammatory and metabolic markers in HT and assess their value in the diagnosis. Methods: An HT group (n=103) and a control group with euthyroidism (n=103) were included in the study. The demographics, anthropometric measurements, and circulation-based inflammatory and metabolic markers, triglyceride-glucose index, FIB-4 score, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease score, APRI, ATH score, systemic immune-inflammation index, systemic inflammation response index, prognostic nutritional index, monocyte-to-HDL cholesterol ratio, atherogenic index of plasma, neutrophil-to lymphocyte ratio, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, PV, PDW, and RDW were recorded. Results: Consistent with the literature, we found a 10-fold difference in the HT prevalence in females (90.3%) compared with males (9.7%). Anthropometric measurements revealed that increased hip circumference increases the risk of HT (118.0 cm [107.0–132.0]) compared to control (110.0 cm [103.0–119.0]). We failed to find any difference in metabolic or inflammatory indices in the HT vs. control group. Conclusion: This study reinforces the well-documented association between HT and female predominance and metabolic factors such as obesity and diabetes. However, inflammatory markers did not show a significant association with HT, urging the need for larger cohorts.

Keywords

• Hashimoto thyroiditis
• inflammatory markers
• hip circumference
• metabolic markers

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