Serum ferritin concentration in subacute thyroiditis.

Serum concentration of ferritin was measured in 20 patients (19 women, one man) with untreated (thyrotoxic phase) subacute thyroiditis, 32 patients (21 women, 11 men) with untreated Graves' disease, 17 patients (all women) with euthyroid Hashimoto's thyroiditis, 12 patients (all women) with hepatitis A (HAV), eight patients (all women) with pneumonia, and 59 normal controls (30 women, 29 men). In female patients with subacute thyroiditis, the serum concentration of ferritin was 163.6 +/- 116.3 micrograms/L (after log transformation, 2.12 +/- 0.31 micrograms/L, mean +/- SD), which was significantly higher than values in female Graves' disease (P less than .05), Hashimoto's thyroiditis (P less than .001), pneumonia (P less than .05), and healthy subjects (P less than .001), being 97.9 +/- 71.9 micrograms/L (after log transformation, 1.85 +/- 0.42 micrograms/L), 51.6 +/- 53.0 micrograms/L (after log transformation, 1.48 +/- 0.50 micrograms/L), 88.2 +/- 56.3 micrograms/L (after log transformation, 1.86 +/- 0.30 micrograms/L), and 25.2 +/- 7.4 micrograms/L (after log transformation; 1.16 +/- 0.10 micrograms/L), respectively, but was not significantly different with HAV, being 368.3 +/- 514.0 micrograms/L (after log transformation, 2.32 +/- 0.47 micrograms/L). In a male with subacute thyroiditis, the serum concentration of ferritin was 521.8 micrograms/L (after log transformation, 2.72 micrograms/L), which was higher than +/- 3 SD and +/- 1 SD of the levels in healthy males (93.0 +/- 55.9 micrograms/L; after log transformation, 1.89 +/- 0.27 micrograms/L) and male Graves' disease patients (257.0 +/- 195.5 micrograms/L; after log transformation, 2.28 +/- 0.38 micrograms/L), respectively. Elevated serum ferritin concentration significantly declined with treatment by either aspirin or prednisolone (paired t test, P less than .001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)