Seasonal Variation in Relapse Rate of Graves' Disease after Thionamide Drug Treatment

Endocrine Journal

Junji KONISHI¹  Yasuhiro IIDA¹  Takashi MISAKI¹  Kanji KASAGI¹ 

[1] Department of Nuclear Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine

关键词: Graves' disease;    Environmental factor;    TSH receptor antibodies;    Antithyroid drug;   

DOI  :  10.1507/endocrj.50.669

学科分类：内分泌与代谢学

来源: Japan Endocrine Society

【 摘 要 】

References(18)Cited-By(1)Objective: Controversy abounds on the issue of seasonal variation in new onset of Graves' disease, partly due to the difficulty of precisely dating the exact start of symptoms. To address the possible relationship between climatic changes and disease activity from a different perspective, we reviewed time of relapse during regular follow-up after successful drug treatment with thionamides. Design: Retrospective analysis of a case series in a university clinic. Patients and measurements: We consecutively registered patients who experienced re-emergence of hyperthyroidism between 1992 and 2001 after successful antithyroid drug therapy. Excluded were subjects with superimposing painless thyroiditis, in postpartum, on immunomodulatory drugs, or off thionamides prematurely on their own volition. Results: Fifty-two patients recurred 2 to 36 months after drug cessation. The frequency was higher in spring and summer (March to August) than in autumn and winter (September to February). With a new coated-tube radioreceptor assay, TSH binding inhibitor immunoglobulin activity was detected in sera from 87.5% of the reworsened patients. Conclusions: Graves' disease tends to relapse more frequently in spring and summer. Further clinical studies are warranted to clarify underlying mechanism (s) for this seasonal variation.

【 授权许可】

Unknown