Periodicidad semestral: flujo continuo.
ISSN - Electrónico: 2661-6947 / DOI: 10.36015 • LILACS BIREME (19784); LATINDEX (20666)
Introduction. There is little information available regarding thyroid dysfunction in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Most information on this matter comes from studies focused on the influence of Interferon b-1 in hypothyroidism. Objective. The goal of this study was to analyze the epidemiology of hypothyroidism in a group of MS patients. Materials and methods. Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study carried out on Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients of the external care area of the Carlos Andrade Marín Specialties Hospital between September 2013 and October 2015, who had been diagnosed with thyroid dysfunctions. Results. Eighty-one MS patients were included in the study, and 17.2% (n=14) of them had confirmed clinical and subclinical hypothyroidism. Out of these, 7.1% (n=l) was male and 92% (n=13) were females, with an age range of M=40, SD-=13.55. In patients with MS-hypothyroidism comorbidity, 78.5% (n=63) had a relapsing-remitting variety, and 21% (n=17) a progressive variety. A Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 comorbidity was evident in hypothyroidism and MS patients; 14% (n=4) were diagnosed with a third autoimmune disease, such as systemic lupus erythematosus. Conclusions. The prevalence of hypothyroidism found in MS patients within this study was similar to the prevalence reported in international studies. However, we cannot be certain whether or not this value was similar to the overall Ecuadorian population, since there are no studies that pinpoint the exact prevalence of hypothyroidism in Ecuador, although this rate is estimated to be within a range of 15 to 20%.
The authors who publish in this journal accept the following conditions:
1. The authors retain the copyright and grant to the CAMbios MEDICAL-SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL HECAM the right of the first publication, with the work registered with the Creative Commons attribution license, which allows third parties to use the published material provided that they mention the authorship of the work and the first publication in this journal.
2. Authors can make other independent and additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (for example, include it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book) as long as it clearly indicates that the work was published. for the first time in the CAMbios MEDICAL-SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL HECAM.