Prevalence of autoantibodies in Thai elderly.

To investigate the prevalence of autoantibodies in a normal Thai elderly group, the authors measured anti-thyroid antibodies (anti-thyroglobulin, anti-thyroid microsome), antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and rheumatoid factors (RF) in 429 normal elderly (206 men, 223 women, age range 50-102 years). The participants recruited from Romklao Village, Lat Krabang, a suburb of Bangkok and compared to 219 young normal subjects (110 men, 109 women; age range 19-49 years). The prevalence of anti-thyroid antibodies was significantly increased in the elderly group when compared to the younger age control group (14.