ABSTRACT
Background: There are limited data about the factors affecting the response time to medical treatment in Graves’ disease (GD) although many studies examined the predictors of the relapse after drug withdrawal. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the time for becoming euthyroid under antithyroid drug (ATD) therapy and the parameters influencing this period in patients diagnosed as GD.Methods: Patients with newly-diagnosed GD and decided to treat with ATD initially between March 2017 and September 2018 were retrieved retrospectively. Sociodemographic features as well as laboratory parameters like thyroid function tests and thyroid-stimulating hormone-receptor antibody (TRab) at the time of diagnosis were recorded.Results: Out of 41 patients, 63.4% (n=26) were female. The mean age was 36.1±11.7 years and 43.9% (n=18) of them were smoking. The time between the initiation of treatment and the duration of becoming euthyroid was 2.4±1.8 months. No significant difference was noted between age, gender, and smoking status and the time to become euthyroid under ATD treatment. This period was significantly positively correlated with levels of free triiodothyronine, free thyroxine, and negatively correlated with thyroid-stimulating hormone. Response to ATD therapy was higher in patients with pre-treatment TRab levels <10 IU/l than TRab ≥10 IU/l (p=0.011).Conclusions: Pretreatment thyroid function tests and TRab levels may be taken into consideration before deciding treatment in patients with newly diagnosed GD. It would be useful to design more comprehensive studies so that this proposal can find a response in clinical practice.
ABSTRACT
Background: To compare bone mineral densities via dual energy X-ray absorptiometry method (DXA) between various hyperparathyroidism (HPT) types such as primary, vitamin D induced secondary, and both conditions.Methods: Participants who were aged between 18-45 years and had elevated parathyroid hormone levels were included. After initial evaluations, patients were divided into 3 groups according to diagnoses: primary HPT (pHPT), vitamin D induced secondary HPT (sHPT), and combined (primary+secondary) one. In addition to the bone mineral density (BMD), demographic and laboratory datas were recorded.Results: Of 166 patients, 147 of the patients were female, 19 were male, and average age was 38.10±7.24 years. Significant difference was found in terms of age (p=0.03) between pHPT and sHPT. Blood calcium, PTH, 25-OH vitamin D, and daily urine calcium excretion levels were significantly higher and phosphorus levels were lower in the pHPT group compared to the sHPT and combined disease group. Both T and Z scores of the pHPT group were significantly lower than the sHPT group especially in the lumbar region. However, no significant difference was noted between pHPT and combined disease group with respect to T and Z scores in all regions.Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that pHPT has a significantly worse impact on skeletal mineral density particularly in the lumbar region than sHPT. The addition of vitamin D deficiency to the clinical picture seems to have no significant influence on BMD in pHPT. To confirm and clarify these findings, prospective studies with larger number of participants are needed.