Symptoms of thyroid eye disease persist even in inactivate phase

Moderate-to-severe thyroid eye disease (TED) should be considered a symptomatic chronic disease as the signs and symptoms of the disease often continue long after the disease has become noninflammatory, according to a study.

Data from 307 patients with inflammatory (clinical activity score ≥ 3) TED and 281 patients with noninflammatory (CAS = 0 or 1) with comparable age, gender, TED duration, and smoker status, were analyzed.

Common signs/symptoms of noninflammatory TED included:

-Ocular dryness/grittiness (77%)
-Proptosis (56%)
-Excessive tearing (43%)
-Soft tissue edema (42%)
-Conjunctival redness (24%)
-Decreased vision (24%)
-Eye muscle involvement (22%; 14% had diplopia)

Patients in inflammatory TED reported all the above signs/symptoms more frequently.

Quality of life (QoL) was impacted less in patients with inflammatory disease compared to those with noninflammatory TED, however mental health issues were similarly reported between the groups.

Reference
Wang Y, Padnick-Silver L, Francis-Sedlak M, et al. Inflammatory and Noninflammatory Thyroid Eye Disease: Comparison of Disease Signs, Symptoms, and Quality of Life in Patients in the United States. Endocr Pract. 2022;S1530-891X(22)00536-5. doi: 10.1016/j.eprac.2022.06.003. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35714862.