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Cross-Sectional Study on Thyroid Autoimmune Diseases and Stressful Life Events, Stress, and Work Activities

2022; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.2139/ssrn.4292098

1556-5068

Stella Maris Pezzotto,

Health and Wellbeing Research

Background: Autoimmune Thyroid Diseases (AITD) are the most prevalent disorders that lead to dysfunction of the thyroid gland. Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and Graves’ disease (GD) are the most frequent clinical forms of this pathology. This study aimed at providing new evidence regarding the prevalence of patients with HT and GD, the relationship between the presence of AITD, stressful life events, stress perception, and other factors that may be associated with the onset or presence of AITD.Methods: For this descriptive and cross-sectional study, 107 patients with AITD were recruited from an endocrinology outpatient clinic in San Nicolás de Los Arroyos, Argentina. Physical examination, review of medical records, and surveys were analyzed.Results: A predominance of women was observed. The most frequent AITD was HT. The mean age of the patients at the time of diagnosis was 45.7 ± 15.7. More than half of the patients reported a stress level greater than 8 points out of 10. Only 14% of the patients did not experience any stressful life event. Significant vitamin D deficiency was found in almost all measurements made. Almost 60% of patients are inactive or reported low physical activity.Conclusion: This is the first study to provide local evidence to better understand the AITD epidemiology in our region, suggesting that stressors, obesity, vitamin D deficiency, and other factors may play an important role in the etiopathogenesis of AITD. Prospective studies are needed to provide inferential results about the causality of these relationships.