Thyroid dysfunction in primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is frequently associated with autoimmune diseases, including thyroid disease, although it is uncertain that this association is higher than in other liver diseases.

METHODS: We compared the prevalence and incidence of thyroid dysfunction (TD) in a series of patients with PBC (n=67) with patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) (n=79) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (n=97) seen in a tertiary referral centre who had previously participated in clinical trials.

RESULTS: At initial evaluation, prevalence of TD in PBC was 13% compared with 11% in PSC (P=0.71) and 25% in NAFLD (P=0.08). Incidence of TD was 2.9 patients per 100 person-years in PBC compared with 2.1 patients per 100 person-years in PSC (P=0.57) and 1.8 patients per 100 person-years in non-alcoholic liver disease (P=0.45). Older age, female gender, biochemical abnormalities and concurrent autoimmune disorders were not predictive of the development of TD.

CONCLUSIONS: TD was unexpectedly as common in patients with PBC as in patients with PSC and NAFLD, yet significantly more common than expected in the general population. Further investigation of thyroid disease in PSC and NAFLD is warranted.