Positive TgAbs in patients with Graves' orbitopathy are associated with lower risk of its active form - preliminary...

In this retrospective, single-centre cohort study, we report our 10-year experience concerning clinical manifestation, diagnosis and treatment of Graves' orbitopathy (GO), with particular regard to antithyroid antibodies in iodine sufficient Polish population.

Data on thyrometabolic and immunological status of 71 patients diagnosed with GO, were collected. Also, we gathered information on the selection of the applied treatment in these cases of Graves' disease (GD): pharmacological, radioiodine or surgery. The chi-square test, correlation coefficient and univariate logistic regression analysis were used to determine the influence of clinical parameters on activity of GO.

Significantly lower frequency of active GO in positive anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAbs) patients was documented (p<0.05, chi-square analysis). Expectedly, concentration of antibodies against thyrotropin receptor (TRAbs) did constitute linear factor positively associated with clinical activity score (CAS) (p<0.05). Moreover, the pretreatment with radioiodine and smoking were significantly associated with the increased GO activity (p<0.05 and p<0.05, respectively).

Our data suggest some kind of "protective" effect of TgAbs presence against the active form of GO.