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Thyroid
Graves' Disease: A Long-Term Quality-of-Life Follow Up of Patients Randomized to Treatment with Antithyroid Drugs, Radioiodine, or Surgery

To cite this article:
Mirna Abraham-Nordling, Ove Törring, Bertil Hamberger, Göran Lundell, Leif Tallstedt, Jan Calissendorff, Göran Wallin. Thyroid. November 2005, 15(11): 1279-1286. doi:10.1089/thy.2005.15.1279.

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Mirna Abraham-Nordling
Department of Surgery, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden.
Ove Törring
Endocrine Section, Department of Medicine, Sodersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden.
Bertil Hamberger
Department of Surgery, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden.
Göran Lundell
Department of Oncology, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden.
Leif Tallstedt
St. Erik Eye Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Jan Calissendorff
Department of Endocrinology, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden.
Göran Wallin, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Surgery, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden.

The effects of treatment modality for Graves' disease (GD) were studied with respect to long-term quality of life and present health status. A total of 179 patients with GD were randomized during the period 1983–1990 for treatment with antithyroid drugs, radioiodine, or surgery. A 36-item Short Form Health Status Survey questionnaire and specific questions for GD were sent to patients 14–21 years after randomization. Present medical records, and clinical and laboratory status were recorded. No major significant differences in quality of life among the three treatments were observed. Compared to a large Swedish reference group, all treatment groups had significantly lower scores for vitality (p < 0.05). The Mental Component Summary was lower for both the young medical, young surgical, and the older medical group (p < 0.05). Radioiodine-treated patients had a lower General Health score. Young medical patients (<35 years) had lower Mental Health scores (p < 0.05). There was also a strong trend, which barely met statistically significance, for older surgical and radioiodine groups for lower Mental Component Summary. GD patients have, compared with a large Swedish reference population, diminished vital and mental quality of life aspects even many years after treatment. The qualityof- life scores were not different among the three treatment modalities.

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