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Eyes of obese patients may mimic Graves’ orbitopathy
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Eyes of obese patients can have a “remarkable resemblance” to eyes with Graves' orbitopathy, according to a Dutch study. In patients with bilateral exophthalmos and eye signs suspicious of Graves’ orbitopathy, obesity should be considered as a possible cause, a group of Dutch researchers said.
M.H. Smolders and colleagues at Leiden University Medical Center studied the eyes of a group of obese individuals and compared those results to nonobese individuals to determine the relationship between exophthalmos and obesity. Nineteen obese patients (body mass index greater than 30 kg/m2) were compared to 45 nonobese individuals whose BMI ranged from 20 kg/m2 to 26 kg/m2. All participants underwent Hertel’s exophthalmometry, Goldmann applanation tonometry and measurement of the medial rectus muscle by echography.
Obese patients had higher Hertel values and enlarged medial rectus muscle diameter (P < .05). Bilateral exophthalmos was observed in 33% of obese patients. But these elevated values did not cause ocular morbidity, the researchers reported in Ophthalmic Research.
The standard values for exophthalmometry and echography may have to be adapted for obese patients, the authors suggest.
Read more on obesity and ocular disease in the May 1 issue of Ocular Surgery News U.S. Edition.