Sex- and age-related changes of exophthalmos in graves' disease

In order to evaluate the effect of sex and age on the protrusion of the eyes in patients with Graves' disease, exophalmometry was performed on 95 patients, aged 16-73. The mean (+/- SE) protrusion in the 190 eyes was 17.5 +/- 0.2 mm, being significantly higher than those in normal subjects (14.9 +/- 0.2 mm) and patients with Hashimoto's disease (14.3 +/- 0.2 mm). No significant difference existed in the degree of protrusion between thyrotoxic Graves' disease patients and those maintained in an euthyroid state during treatment with antithyroid drugs. When compared in terms of the duration of the treatment, the protrusion became prominent with the increased duration of the treatment, especially in male patients, although statistically not significant. The protrusion in male patients tended to increase, though not significantly, with increasing age, whereas it decreased significantly with increasing age in female patients.