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A comparison between bilateral and unilateral thyroid eye disease

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Abstract

Purpose

To compare characteristics of unilateral vs. bilateral thyroid eye disease (TED).

Methods

This retrospective analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with TED who were evaluated at an academic referral center over a 6-year period. We compared demographics, activity (clinical activity score) and severity (EUGOGO classification) of TED, thyroid disease duration, TED duration, the time interval between thyroid and eye involvement, thyroid function status, and clinical signs between bilateral and unilateral TED.

Results

Three hundred eighty-three patients including 213 females (55.6%), who had a mean age of 40.23 ± 13.72 years, were enrolled. Active TED was seen in 8.8% of bilateral and none of unilateral cases (P = 0.04). Bilateral TED patients had more severe disease (P = 0.001). The distribution of hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and euthyroidism was significantly different between unilateral and bilateral groups (P = 0.001). Abnormal ocular motility was present in 26.3% versus 2.3% of bilateral and unilateral ones, respectively (P = 0.001). Proptosis was more prevalent in bilateral than unilateral cases (P = 0.001). We did not observe any statistically significant difference between the two groups in others variables.

Conclusion

Bilateral TED patients present with more severity, activity, movement abnormality, proptosis, and hyperthyroidism.

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Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors

Contributions

BE contributed in the conception and design of the work and revising the draft. MP contributed in the conception and design of the work, data analysis, and revising the draft. MA contributed to data acquisition and revising the draft. IM contributed to the conception and design of the work and writing the draft. All of the authors approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Iman Mohammadbeigy.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethics approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was generated by the Ethics Committee of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran (IR.MUI.MED.REC.1399.1001).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Eshraghi, B., Pourazizi, M., Abbasi, M. et al. A comparison between bilateral and unilateral thyroid eye disease. Int Ophthalmol 43, 2957–2962 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-023-02702-5

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