Thyrotoxicosis in the African: Clinical and Immunological Observations

Abstract

The clinical manifestations of thyrotoxicosis are described in 20 African patients with toxic diffuse goitre (Graves's disease) and five with toxic nodular goitre. Antibody to thyroglubulin was detected in the serum of one patient and antibody to thyroid microsomes in four patients. Round-cell infiltration of the thyroid gland was present in 27% of 30 African thyrotoxic patients and 73% of appropriately matched Caucasian patients. It is suggested that the low incidence of thyrotoxicosis in the African race is related to an inability to form thyroid autoantibodies.