Abstract
PURPOSE: To probe the property of serum uric acid in evaluating the activity of patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy. METHODS: A total of 443 patients with TAO admitted to our hospital from March 2016 to February 2021 were selected for the observation group. Simultaneously, 443 healthy subjects were selected for the control group. The observation group was divided into the active group (n = 254) and the inactive group (n = 189) according to the clinical activity score (CAS). Besides, the patients were divided into mild group (n = 201), moderate severe group (n = 133) and extremely severe group (n = 109) based on the severity of TAO. Serum uric acid, free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroid hormone (FT4), thyrotropin stimulating hormone (TSH) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels were detected and analyzed in each group. RESULTS: Serum UA, FT3, FT4, TSH and HbA1c in the active group were significantly enhanced than those in the other two groups (P < 0.05), and there was no significant difference between the inactive group and the control group (P > 0.05). In different disease severity groups, the serum UA level of patients in the active group was significantly promoted than that in the inactive group and control group (P < 0.05) and was decreased successively in extremely severe group, moderate severe group and mild group, with statistical significance (P < 0.05). Pearson's analysis showed that UA was positively correlated with FT3, FT4, and HbA1c (r = 0.652, P = 0.031; r = 0.571, P = 0.042; r = 0.737, P = 0.024), while was reversely correlated with TSH level (r = -0.137, P = 0.262). There was no correlation between UA and FT3, FT4, and HbA1c levels in the inactive group. UA detection showed the average sensitivity and specificity of TAO activity were 94.3% and 85.2%, respectively. There was no significant correlation between the severity of disease and serum UA in inactive patients (P = 0.135). There was a positive correlation between the severity of disease and serum UA in active patients (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: UA may be used as a laboratory indicator for quantitative clinical diagnosis of thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) and as a parameter for the presence of TAO activity.