ABSTRACT

Background: To find the eye manifestations in patients with Graves’ disease in Al-Diwaniya teaching hospital in terms of incidence and severity.

Method: In this descriptive cross-section study, we recruited 64 patients (46 female and 18 male) from November 2016 to December 2019. A complete ocular examination was done, including visual acuity and intraocular pressure measurement, ocular motility examination, slit-lamp examination, and fundoscopy.

Results: In this study, 64 patients were diagnosed with Graves’ thyroid disease. The mean age of the patients was 36.87 ± 17 years (range, 19–54), the mean duration of symptoms of systemic disease was 3.2 ± 1.6 years (range, 9 months to 9 years), the mean VA test score was 0.9 ± 0.23, and elevated eyelid (retraction) was noticed in 66.1% of patients (in both eyes in 91.2% of cases). The most common complaint of the patients was foreign body sensation (61% of patients). The mean Werner’s NOSPECS classification score in our study was 3 ± 2.1; the score was affected by the gender of the patients (3.41 in males vs. 2.72 in females; p < 0.01) and positively correlated with patient age (r = 0.287, p = 0.017).

Conclusion: Ophthalmic manifestations were common in Graves’ disease, and it was positively correlated with the severity of the disease.

Keywords: Graves’ disease, hyperthyroidism, thyroid-related orbitopathy.