Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Given the general lack of descriptive epidemiological studies on thyroid storm, we aimed to estimate the incidence rate and case fatality of thyroid storm in Germany based on a large claims database.

Methods: Using the German Pharmacoepidemiological Research Database (GePaRD) we identified patients with at least one inpatient discharge diagnosis of thyroid storm (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10^th revision, German modification; ICD-10-GM E05.5) between 2007 and 2017 and calculated age-standardized and age-specific incidence rates in males and females. We defined deaths occurring within 30 days of the diagnosis as thyroid storm-associated and determined case fatality by sex and age group.

Results: Overall, we identified 1.690 patients with an incident diagnosis of thyroid storm (72% females). Mean age was 60 years (standard deviation: 18.6 years). The age-standardized incidence rate per 100.000 persons per year was 1.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2 to 1.7) in females and 0.7 (95% CI 0.5 to 0.9) in males. In females ≤60 and >60 years of age, the incidence rate was 0.9 (males 0.4) and 2.7 (males 1.7), respectively. The case fatality of thyroid storm was 1.0% in males ≤60 years (females: 1.4%) and 16.7% in males >60 years of age (females: 10.9%).

Conclusion: Incidence rates of thyroid storm were markedly higher in females than in males and were three times higher in persons >60 years compared to younger age groups. Case fatality was below 2% in persons aged ≤60 years and markedly higher in older persons (males: 17 times, females: 8 times).

Keywords: thyroid storm; incidence; case fatality; Germany