Wang Y, et al. - This trial entailed the determination of potential factors used to speculate the efficacy of intravenous glucocorticoid (ivGC) therapy in moderate-to-severe and active thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy. The independent factors revealed herein were the duration of eye symptoms and restoration of euthyroidism. It was discovered that shorter duration of eye symptoms led to more favorable effects of ivGC therapy. Therefore, prompt diagnosis and treatment (within 13 months) were found to be pivotal. Furthermore, findings displayed that restoration of euthyroidism improved the efficacy of ivGC.

Methods

• The scheme of this research was a single center retrospective study.
• Using logistic regression, an evaluation was conducted of the potential factors associated with the effects of ivGC in 90 consecutive patients with moderate-to-severe and active TAO, who received 4.5 g ivGC therapy.
• Herein, response was defined as the achievement of at least three points of the overall response.

Results

• A positive response to ivGC therapy was noted in 52 (57.8%) patients.
• Findings unveiled prominent correlations between the effects of ivGC and pretreatment clinical activity score (CAS), duration of eye symptoms, and restoration of euthyroidism.
• The two latter factors appeared to be independent.
• A negative link was determined between the duration of eye symptoms with the effects of ivGC, with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.984 (p=0.012).
• A positive connection was illustrated between restoration of euthyroidism (OR = 3.282, p=0.039) and pretreatment CAS (OR = 1.653, p < 0.01) with the effects of ivGC.
• As per the outcomes, the diagnostic accuracy of the duration of eye symptoms was ≤13 months (p=0.000), with a specificity of 76.9%, and sensitivity of 65.8%.
• The diagnostic accuracy of the pretreatment CAS was discovered to be more than 2.5 (p=0.000), with a specificity of 61.5% and sensitivity of 80.5%.
• Researchers established a multi-variables prediction model, which was better in the forecasting aspect with an area under curve of 0.784 (p=0.000).