Journal List > J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > v.49(9) > 1008067

Woo, Kim, and Lee: The Clinical Characteristics of Thyroid Orbitopathy in Thyroid Dysfunction Patients in Korea

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the clinical manifestation of thyroid orbitopathy among patients with thyroid dysfunction.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted at 24 general hospitals in Korea. All dysthyroid patients who visited the endocrinology clinic for 1 week were included. Data were collected during an interviewer- administered questionnaire. Thyroid orbitopathy was diagnosed in cases with relevant symptoms according to the VISA classification for which an eye examination was performed. Three hundred seventy-one patients who had thyroid orbitopathy out of 1986 dysthyroid patients were evaluated.

Results

Vision symptoms were presented in 10.5% of thyroid orbitopathy patients, inflammation symptoms in 43.1%, strabismus in 15.1%, and appearance and exposure symptoms in 86.3% of patients. Among the eye symptoms, proptosis was most prevalent in 56.9% of patients followed by eyelid retraction in 31.5%, diplopia in 15.1% and optic nerve dysfunction in 2.4% of patients. Median value of exophthalmometry in the thyroid orbitopathy group was 16 mm and 17 mm in the proptosis group. Patient self assessment for thyroid orbitopathy from the onset of the disease was "greatly improved" in 12.1% of patients, "improved" in 19.5%, "unchanged" in 51.2%, "worse" in 19.6%, and "much worse" in 1.0% of patients.

Conclusions

Among dysthyroid patients, significant amount was found to have symptoms related with thyroid orbitopathy. The patients with thyroid orbitopathy, except for the mildest cases, need to be managed by a thyroid eye disease specialist for further assessment and care.

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Figure 1.
Age and gender distribution of all dysthyroid patients.
jkos-49-1387f1.tif
Figure 2.
Distribution of total exophthalmometric values of thyroid orbitopathy (586 eyes of 298 patients). It shows the number of eyes in each value of the patients without proptosis and with proptosis.
jkos-49-1387f2.tif
Figure 3.
Distribution of the margin-reflex distance (MRD1) of the upper eyelids in thyroid orbitopathy patients. (558 eyes of 279 patients)
jkos-49-1387f3.tif
Figure 4.
Distribution of the scleral show in the lower eyelids in 463 eyelids.
jkos-49-1387f4.tif
Table 1.
Characteristics of dysthyroid patients
Characteristics N/Mean±S.D (%)
Study population 1,986
Sex (M/F) 406/1580
Mean age±S.D. 45.1±14.0
Duration of thyroid disease (Mean±S.D.) 49.0±58.2
Family history of thyroid disease 449/1,965 22.6
Ever smoker 325/1,931 16.8
Current smoker 176/1,931 9.1
Dermopathy 28/1,634 1.7
Thyroid function test at initial presentation (N=1,743)
Hyper 852 48.9
Subclinical hyper 172 9.9
Euthyroid 217 12.4
Subclinical hypo 203 11.6
Hypo 173 9.9
Others 126 7.2
Thyroid function test nearest to study (N=1,674)
Hyper 214 12.7
Subclinical hyper 262 15.7
Euthyroid 726 43.4
Subclinical hypo 234 14.0
Hypo 87 5.2
Others 151 9.0
Treatments for thyroid dysfunction
Antithyroid medication 1045 58.8
Thyroidectomy 34 1.9
Radioiodine 88 4.9
Thyroid hormone 611 34.4

hyperfunction

hypofunction

Table 2.
Characteristics of patients with thyroid orbitopathy (N=371)
Characteristics N/Mean±S.D. (%)
Age (years)
Male (N=73) 44.2±13.7
Female (N=298) 41.8±13.6
Duration of eye symptoms (yrs) (N=300)
Shorter than 1 112 37.3
1-3 76 25.3
3-5 47 15.7
5-7 27 9.0
Longer than 7 38 12.7
Onset of eye symptom relative to thyroid disease (N=274)
Over 6 months before 17 6.2
Less than 6 months before 12 4.4
Simultaneous 105 38.3
Less than 6 months after 36 13.1
6 to 18 months after 44 16.1
18 to 36 months after 20 7.3
Over 36 months after 40 14.6
Eye symptoms (N=371)
Vision 39 10.5
Inflammatory 176 43.1
Strabismus/motility 56 15.1
Appearance/exposure 320 86.3
Treatment for eye condition (N=369)
No treatment 207 55.6
Conservative treatment 123 33.3
Stop smoking 3 0.8
NSAIDs 1 0.3
High-dose IV pulse steroid therapy 24 6.5
Oral steroid therapy 25 6.8
Radiotherapy 2 0.5
Orbital decompression 7 1.9
Strabismus surgery 2 0.5
Eyelid surgery 4 1.1
Table 3.
Manifestations of thyroid orbitopathy (N=371)
Subjective symptoms Number of patients Objective signs Number of patients
Vision
Decreased visual acuity 39 (10.5%) Color vision defect 3 (0.9%)
Color vision 2 (0.6%) Afferent pupillary defect 2 (0.6%)
Visual field defect 6 (1.7%)
Optic disc edema/pallor 3 (0.9%)
Inflammatory
Pain at rest 64 (17.2%) Chemosis 25 (6.7%)
Pain with gaze 32 (8.6%) Injection 159 (42.9%)
Lid swelling at morning 132 (35.6%) Lid Edema 139 (37.5%)
Lid Injection 30 (8.1%)
Strabismus / Motility
Diplopia with gaze 15 (4.0%) Diplopia 30 38 (10.2%)
Diplopia intermittent 31 (8.4%) Diplopia < 30 18 (4.9%)
Diplopia constant 10 (2.7%)
Appearance / Exposure
Lid retraction 117 (31.5%) MRD (mm) Median 3 (-2-9)
Proptosis 211 (56.9%) Lower scleral show Median 0 (0-5)
Tearing 49 (10.8%) Levator function (mm) Median 12 (0-18)
Foreign body sensation 98 (26.4%) Lagophthalmos Median 0 (0-5)
Exophthalmos (mm) Median 16 (8-27)
Table 4.
Distribution of Clinical Activity Score among thyroid orbitopathy patients
CAS Patients
0 105 (29.8%)
1 128 (36.3%)
2 78 (22.1%)
3 16 (4.5%)
4 17 (4.8%)
5 4 (1.1%)
6 3 (0.9%)
7 2 (0.6%)
Total 353 (100%)

CAS=Clinical Activity Score.

Table 5.
Patient self assessment score
Visual acuity Inflammation Strabismus Appearance
Greatly improved 16 (7.5%) 11 (22%) 18 (6.7%)
Improved 1 (12.5%) 34 (15.9%) 11 (22%) 74 (27.4%)
Unchanged 5 (62.5%) 128 (59.8%) 15 (30%) 142 (52.6%)
Worse 2 (25%) 35 (16.4%) 12 (24%) 35 (13.0%)
Much worse 1 (0.5%) 1 (2%) 1 (0.4%)
Total 8 214 50 270
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