Autoimmune Polyendocrine Syndrome Type 2

Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2, also called Schmidt's syndrome after the pathologist who first described it in 1926, is the most common of the polyglandular autoimmune failure syndromes. It is defined by the combination of autoimmune Addison's disease with either autoimmune thyroid disease, type 1 diabetes, or both, and unlike the related type 1 syndrome it is not tied to a single gene, arising instead in people carrying particular immune-system gene variants, HLA-DQ2, HLA-DQ8, and HLA-DR4, that raise their risk. Women are affected more often than men, and management centers on replacing the hormones the failing glands can no longer produce, including thyroid hormone and glucocorticoids, alongside imaging such as ultrasound, MRI, or CT to assess the affected glands.