Influence of Rapid Urbanization on Thyroid Autoimmune Disease in China

Yingchao Chen; Bing Han; Jie Yu; Yi Chen; Jing Cheng; Chunfang Zhu; Fangzhen Xia; Ningjian Wang; Yingli Lu

doi:10.1155/2021/9967712

Influence of Rapid Urbanization on Thyroid Autoimmune Disease in China

Int J Endocrinol. 2021 Jun 2:2021:9967712. doi: 10.1155/2021/9967712. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yingchao Chen¹, Bing Han¹, Jie Yu¹, Yi Chen¹, Jing Cheng¹, Chunfang Zhu¹, Fangzhen Xia¹, Ningjian Wang¹, Yingli Lu¹

Affiliation

¹ Institute and Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs), especially Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), has increased dramatically in China. Moreover, China is experiencing the largest scale of urbanization in the world. We intended to explore the relationship between rapid urbanization and HT.

Methods: A total of 2946 subjects in Zhejiang Shangyu (SY) (n = 1546) and Jiangsu Nanjing (NJ) (n = 1400) were enrolled in this study. Serum TPOAb, TGAb, and thyrotropin (TSH) were measured, and ultrasonography of the thyroid was performed in all subjects. DNA was extracted from all subjects, and four SNPs were selected for genotyping. Generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR) was used to screen the best interaction between genetic factors and environment factors.

Results: TPOAb and TGAb concentrations were higher in NJ than in SY (34.60 vs. 14.00 IU/ml and 21.05 vs. 7.50 IU/ml). People in NJ also had higher TPOAb and TGAb positivity rates than those in SY (7.8% vs. 12.7% and 8.7% vs. 16.3%). Logistic regression analysis indicated that rapid urbanization was an independent risk factor for TPOAb (OR = 1.473) and TGAb (OR = 1.689). Genotype TT in rs11675434 was associated with an increased risk of TPOAb positivity both in SY (OR = 2.955) and in NJ (OR = 1.819). GMDR analysis showed a two-locus model (SNP2 × urbanization) and a three-locus model (SNP2 × SNP3 × urbanization), which had testing accuracies of 56.88% and 57.25%, respectively (P values were 0.001 and 0.001).

Conclusion: Rapid urbanization influences the incidence of TPOAb and TGAb positivity. We should pay more attention to thyroid autoimmune disease in areas of China experiencing rapid urbanization.