Patients with impaired acid secretion require an increased dose of thyroxine, suggesting that normal gastric acid secretion is necessary for effective absorption of oral thyroxine.

These findings indicate that the intraocular pressure is increased even in subclinical hypothyroid patients and that, at this early stage, the impairment is fully reversible with L-T4 therapy.

These results indicate that the increased frequency of chronic anaemia in patients with ATD is essentially due to the presence of concomitant autoimmune gastrointestinal diseases.

Objective: The prevalence of platelet-associated IgG (paIgG) in nonthrombocytopenic patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) alone or associated with autoimmune polyglandular syndrome (APS) has been studied. Subjects: A total of 164 individuals were enrolled in this study: 81 patients with AITD alone, 33 patients with APS, and 50 healthy controls. Results: The presence of paIgG was recorded in 41 of 81 patients with AITD (51%) as compared with 2 of 50 control subjects (4%, p < 0.0001). The prevalence of paIgG in patients with APS was higher even when compared with patients with AITD alone (25/33, 76%; p = 0.02). The presence of paIgG was not related to the functional thyroid parameters. The prevalence of paIgG was higher in the older than in the younger patients (75 vs. 47%, p = 0.0037). Conclusions: The results indicate that the prevalence of paIgG in patients with AITD is higher than previously thought, namely in elderly patients and in patients with APS, and not related to the thyroid function.

The aim of this study was to analyze the serum levels of activin A in hyperthyroid patients with Graves' disease. Serum activin A and FSH levels were measured in a total of 93 females (64 regularly cycling and 29 post-menopausal). Of these, 20 were hyperthyroid patients with Graves disease, 33 were euthyroid goitrous patients (20 had autoimmune thyroiditis AT and 13 only had goiter) representing the internal control group and 40 were healthy subjects representing the external control group. Serum levels of activin A were higher in goitrous patients with AT than in control subjects (p=0.0388). Activin A levels were almost doubled in the cycling and in post-menopausal hyperthyroid women (0.91+/-0.21 vs 0.43+/-0.07 microg/l; p<0.0001 and 0.92+/-0.22 vs 0.48+/-0.24 microg/l; p=0.0001, respectively). In 10 cycling hyperthyroid patients, studied even after methimazole treatment, that increase was substantially reversed, once euthyroidism was attained (p=0.002). These findings indicate that thyroid function and autoimmune processes significantly affect serum levels of activin A in patients with Graves' disease.