Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: The aim of the study was to present some epidemiological data about Graves’ ophthalmopathy in a tertiary centre.

Material and method: The retrospective study included 98 patients with Graves’ disease associated with infiltrative ophthalmopathy, evaluated in our Department of Endocrinology in the period 2008–July 2010.

The mean age of the group was 45.2±12.4 years, with a female/male ratio=84/14.

The diagnosis of thyrotoxicosis was established on clinical criteria, hormonal data (TSH, FT₃ and FT₄) and immunological data (TSH receptor antibodies).

The evaluation of the ophthalmopathy comprised exophthalmometry, clinical activity score (CAS) and severity criteria.

Results: In 72 cases, thyrotoxicosis developed concomitantly with orbitopathy, 25 patients presented first the thyrotoxicosis and in one case the eye disease was diagnosed 2 years before thyrotoxicosis.

At admission, the evaluation of thyroid functionality during ophthalmologic assessment, showed 22 cases with subclinical hyperthyroidism, 15 euthyroid patients, 3 with subclinical hypothyroidism, the remaining presenting overt thyrotoxicosis (59.1%).

CAS values were comparable in euthyroid and dysthyroid groups (3.6±2.0 vs 3.2±1.85, P=0.47, t-test).

According to EUGOGO severity criteria, the ophthalmopathy was classified as follows: 73 mild forms (9 men, 64 women), 20 moderate (4 men, 16 women) and 5 severe forms (1 man, 4 women).

Based on clinical activity score, the patients were divided into active ophthalmopathy group (31 cases) and inactive eye disease group (67 cases).

There were no statistically significant differences regarding age (P=0.08, t-test), smoking (P=0.07, Fisher’s exact test) or thyrotoxicosis severity (P=0.40, Mann–Whitney test) in mild ophthalmopathy group, as compared to moderate–severe group.

Conclusions: The studied Graves’ cases were dominated by mild ophtalmopathy forms. Thyroid ophthalmopathy (CAS, severity) does dot correlate with thyrotoxicosis onset.