Prevalence of autoantibodies and the risk of autoimmune thyroid disease in children with chronic hepatitis C virus infection treated with interferon-α

Table 3 Thyroid function tests in the two treatment groups before, during and 12 mo after treatment

Group		Before treatment				During treatment				After treatment
	n	TGA1	TPOAb2	TSH3	FT34/FT45	TGA1	TPOAb2	TSH3	FT34/FT45	TGA1	TPOAb2	TSH3	FT34/FT45
IFN-mono-therapy	21	0	0	1	0	3	5	3	0	0	0	0	0
IFN/ribavirin-combined treatment	40	0	0	0	0	5	2	3	1	1	0	0	0
Peginterferon-α + ribavirin	62	ND	1	0	ND	ND	7	6	ND	ND	3	0	ND
Total	123	0	1	1	0	8	14	12	1	1	3	0	0

¹Thyroglobulin antibody (normal range < 50 U/L);

²Thyroid peroxidase antibody (normal range < 35 IU/mL);

³Thyroid-stimulating hormone (normal range 0.3-4.2 mU/L);

⁴Free triiodothyronine (normal range: 1.8-4.6 ng/L);

⁵Free thyroxine (normal range 7-19 ng/L). ND = not determined.