Cardiac Symptoms in Patients With Treated Graves' Disease

Cardiac symptoms are common i patients with Graves' disease. These symptoms often disappear when hyperthyroidism is treated. However, a subgroup of patients with Graves' disease experiences persisting cardiac symptoms after treatment. The aim of the study is to describe these symptoms and investigate their origin. A total of 75 patients are included in the study. Patients were recruited from the Department of Nephrology and Endocrinology at Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet and the Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Endocrinology at Herlev Gentofte Hospital, Denmark. The patients were identified by extracting a list of patients with the International Classification of Diseases 10 codes (ICD 10 codes) E050 and E059. Also, a list of patients with positive thyrotropin receptor antibody (TRAbI measurements was extracted. All patients had a thorough cardiac work up including blood samples, 12-lead resting electrocardiogram, 24-hour electrocardiogram monitoring (Holter), transthoracic echocardiography, and exercise stress test. The focus was to investigate whether the cardiac symptoms could be explained by structural or functional changes of the heart or by cardiac arrhythmias. All patients were questioned about their symptoms including: type of cardiac symptoms, frequency and when they occured. The focus was to gain knowledge on the clinical presentation of cardiac symptoms in the subgroup.