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Radioiodine, smoking linked to eye disease in Graves' hyperthyroidism 

Radioiodine therapy and smoking increase the risk of developing thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy in patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism, say researchers from Sweden in the October issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

"(We should) include radioiodine treatment and smoking as risk factors for ophthalmopathy, in the decision making process for a patient with Graves' disease," Dr. Frank Traisk from Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, told Reuters Health.

Dr. Traisk and colleagues compared radioiodine treatment (163 patients) and medical therapy (150 patients) for long-term worsening or development of thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy in Graves' hyperthyroidism.

De novo thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy was significantly more common in the iodine-131 group (38%) than in the medical therapy group (18%), the authors report.

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