A survey on the present status of diagnosis and treatment of Graves′ disease in Jiangsu province

Abstract

Objective To investigate the management of Graves′ disease in Jiangsu province. Methods According to the 2011 management of GD survey from American Thyroid Association and the 2013 survey from European Thyroid Association, a questionnaire was designed for this survey to acquire the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of Graves′ disease among endocrinologists from 35 tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu province. Results A total of 476 valid questionnaires were collected. For patients with symptoms of hyperthyroidism, a large majority of respondents monitored serum FT3, FT4, TSH, thyroid peroxidase antibody, thyroglobulin antibody, TSH receptor antibody, and finding of thyroid ultrasound, accounted for 95.6%, 95.0%, 95.4%, 95.8%, 90.3%, 90.5%, and 93.9% physicians, respectively. 91.2% of physicians preferred anti-thyroid drugs as the first-line treatment, and 92.6% of them gave priority to the use of methimazole. For the duration of anti-thyroid drugs therapy, 41.2% of endocrinologists chose 24 months, while 20% chose 18 months. When patients have moderate and active ophthalmopathy, most respondents with medium or senior professional titles preferred anti-thyroid drugs, while most resident physicians chose radioactive iodine plus corticosteroids. When pregnancy was confirmed in the patients of Graves′ disease, 88% of respondents preferred propylthiouracil during the first trimester of pregnancy, and 58.4% of them would continue propylthiouracil into the second trimester. Conclusion The mastering of basic perception of Graves′ disease knowledge is satisfactory among the endocrinologists. But by comparing to the American and European survey results and related guidelines, there are still some differences in diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, physicians should notice those differences and make improvement on standardized treatment for patients to raise the response ratio while reducing the recurrent events. Key words: Graves′ disease; Present status; Questionnaire