L-thyroxine requirement in patients with autoimmune hypothyroidism and parietal cell antibodies.

Background: Hypothyroid patients on l-T(4) therapy may require replacement doses exceeding the theoretical needs to normalize serum TSH due to low patient compliance, drugs interference, and malabsorption.

Objective: We examined whether autoimmune gastritis might cause increased l-T(4) requirement in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis receiving l-T(4) replacement.

Patients: We studied 391 patients with clinical or subclinical hypothyroidism from autoimmune thyroiditis who had achieved normal serum TSH concentration (0.