Thyroid disorders and inflammatory bowel diseases: descriptive study in a
Moroccan population

K. Lamii1, A. Bellabah1, W. Hliwa1, F. Haddad1, M. Tahiri1, W. Badre1
Page No. 22-25

Introduction: Several observations of thyroid disorders in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) have
been reported in the literature. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of thyroid
dysfunction in a group of Moroccan patients followed for IBD. Materials and methods: Descriptive
study of 78 patients followed for IBD during a period of 6 month. The study included the following
clinical parameters (age, gender, associated diseases, type and status of IBD, examination of the
thyroid), biological (erythrocyte sedimentation rate, TSH, T4, T3 free, anti-peroxidase and antireceptors
TSH) and therapeutic (type and dosage of treatment followed). A Neck ultrasound was
indicated, when abnormalities was on physical examination. A descriptive bi-variate analysis with
khi2 test was performed. Results: The mean age of patients was 33 +/- 1.4 years with 62% female.
Thyroid disorders were found in 36.5% of cases with low T3 syndrome in 62% of these patients. The
dysfunction of thyroid was significantly associated with female gender; thrust IBD, the presence of
anti-thyroid antibodies and biotherapy. Moreover, no significant difference was found between
group’s crohn and ulcerative colitis. Neck ultrasound had found the thyroid nodules in 80.5% of
cases. Conclusion: The results of our study confirm previously published data that found an
incidence of thyroid dysfunction in IBD 14% to 37%.
Keywords: Thyroid disorders, inflammatory bowel diseases, thyroid nodules, female gender.