[Social support and family relations in Graves-Basedow disease]

An anamnestic study encompassed 100 new patients with Graves-Basedow's disease and 100 controls matched according to sex, and age (+/-2 years) and place of living (rural/urban). The patients were treated in an out-patient clinic of the Clinical Center of the Medical Faculty, Clinical hospital center "Zvezdara" in Belgrade and in Special institution "Zlatibor" on Zlatibor in the period from May 1st, 1993 to November 1st, 1993. The aim of this study was to estimate the influence of family relationship and social support on the development of Graves-Basedow's disease. The diseased more often lived in an environment of family disharmony (McNemar's test = 3.76; relative risk (RR) = 3.25; 95% confidence limits CL = 1.01-10.68; probability (p) = 0.049) while the controls more often described themselves as nostalgic persons (McNemar's test = 4.96; RR = 0.38; CL (95%) = 0.16-0.89; p = 0.026). The possibility to discuss their personal problems with their relatives and friends (t = 2.29; DF = 99; p = 0.024), the relatives' and friends' interest for their problems and their readiness to help (t = 2.29; DF = 99; p = 0.004) and possibility of the patients to ask for help in case of financial problems (t = 2.78; DF = 99; p = 0.007) were more often present in persons from the control group.