Purpose: To assess the psychiatric and endocrinological changes in patients with Graves ophthalmopathy (GO).
Design: A prospective, controlled, University Hospital based study
Subjects and methods: The current study comprised 60 patients diagnosed with GO at Mansoura Ophthalmic Center. Thirty five patients of them with moderate to severe GO formed the study group and twenty five patients with negligible to very mild GO formed the control group in the euthyroid state. The study group was further subdivided based on their predominant clinical signs into a proptosis subgroup and a muscle restriction subgroup. Psychiatric changes were assessed with the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire (MHQ). Biochemical analyses included serum-free thyroxine and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations, TSH receptor antibody (TRAb) activity and anti-thyroglobulin particle agglutination (TGPA) and antithyroid microsomal particle agglutination (MCPA).
Results: The proptosis group reported significantly higher scores on anxiety, depression, and phobia than the muscle restriction group (P<0.0001). The proptosis and muscle restriction subgroups reported significantly higher scores on all subscales compared to the control group (P<0.05). The scale scores of depression and phobia showed a positive correlation with scores of anxiety (P<0.0001). The serum TRAb activity showed a significant correlation with anxiety, phobia and hysteria (P<0.0001).
Conclusion: The psychiatric aspect of GO should be evaluated during routine follow-up and should be considered when making management decisions. Thyroid specific antibodies may be useful in confirming the diagnosis of GO.
Keywords: Graves Ophthalmopathy; Psychological Changes; Thyroid Specific Antibodies.