PURPOSE Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is often associated with rheumatic disorders (arthritis, etc.), but many HT patients report non-specific rheumatic signs and symptoms in the absence of clinically evident rheumatic diseases. Aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of non-specific rheumatic manifestations (RMs) in HT subjects without classified autoimmune comorbidities. METHODS 500 HT patients (467 F, 33 M; median age 41 years, range 14-69) and 310 age- and sex-matched controls, consecutively referred to the Endocrine Unit of Messina University Hospital, were evaluated for non-specific RMs. None took L-thyroxine. EXCLUSION CRITERIA autoimmune comorbidities, infectious, and/or inflammatory diseases, history of neoplasia, BMI > 30 kg/m2. RESULTS In our HT cohort, 100 patients (20%) complained of one or more RMs, vs 21 controls (6.8%; P < 0.001). There were minimal differences between the manifestations recorded in the two groups, the most common being polyarthralgias and myalgias/fibromyalgia, but non-specific RMs occurred threefold more in HT patients. Comparing HT patients with RMs (96 F and 4 M) with those affected by HT alone, female sex was prevalent (F:M ratio 24:1 vs 5:1) with higher age at diagnosis (median 43 vs 37 years; P < 0.001). HT patients with RMs (62%) were mostly euthyroid (median TSH 2.0 µIU/L) and only 7% overtly hypothyroid, discouraging a possible causal relationship between thyroid dysfunction per se and RMs. CONCLUSIONS A significant percentage of HT patients complains of non-specific rheumatic signs and symptoms, in the absence of other diagnosed systemic comorbidities and regardless of thyroid functional status, deserving careful evaluation and prolonged follow-up.

中文翻译：

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桥本甲状腺炎患者的非特异性风湿表现：一项初步横断面研究。

目的桥本甲状腺炎（HT）通常与风湿性疾病（关节炎等）相关，但是许多HT患者在缺乏临床上明显的风湿性疾病的情况下报告了非特异性的风湿体征和症状。这项研究的目的是评估没有分类自身免疫性合并症的HT受试者中非特异性风湿病表现（RM）的患病率。方法对连续入墨西拿大学医院内分泌科的500名HT患者（467 F，33 M；中位年龄41岁，范围14-69）和310名年龄和性别匹配的对照进行非特异性RM的评估。没有人服用L-甲状腺素。排除标准：自身免疫性合并症，传染性和/或炎性疾病，瘤形成史，BMI> 30 kg / m2。结果在我们的HT队列中，有100名患者（20％）抱怨一个或多个RM，与21名对照组（6.8％; P <0.001）相比。两组所记录的表现之间的差异极小，最常见的是多关节痛和肌痛/纤维肌痛，但非特异性RM在HT患者中的发生率是三倍。将具有RMs（96 F和4 M）的HT患者与仅受HT影响的HT患者进行比较，女性患病率较高（F：M比例为24：1 vs 5：1），诊断时年龄较高（中位年龄为43岁，相对于37岁； P < 0.001）。伴RMs的HT患者（62％）多为甲状腺功能正常（TSH中位数为2.0 µIU / L），仅有7％的甲状腺机能减退，这阻止了甲状腺功能障碍本身与RMs之间的因果关系。结论在没有其他诊断性系统合并症且不考虑甲状腺功能状态的情况下，很大比例的HT患者主诉非特异性风湿症状和体征，