Table 2.

Univariate analysis of predictor factors for response to glucocorticoid therapy in patients with active moderate-to-severe thyroid eye disease.

	Non-responsive n = 7	Responsive n = 23	P-value
Age (median (IQR))	55 years old (37–62) (95% CI 37–62)	58 years old (54–58) (95% CI 55–58)	0.34
Sex			0.32
Male (%)	2 (29)	10 (44)
Female (%)	5 (71)	13 (56)
Body mass index (median (IQR))	25 (24–28) (95% CI 22–29)	25 (23–30) (95% CI 23–28)	0.80
Smoking habits			0.12
Yes (%)	5 (71)	11 (48)
No (%)	2 (29)	12 (52)
Thyroid surgery			0.0018
No (%)	5 (71)	5 (22)
Before thyroid eye disease onset (%)	0	5 (22)
After thyroid eye disease onset (%)	2 (29)	13 (56)
Duration of thyroid eye disease (median (IQR))	2 months (1–9) (95% CI 1–10)	2 months (1–7) (95% CI 1–3)	0.91
Orbital radiotherapy			0.54
Yes (%)	3 (43)	12 (52)
No (%)	4 (57)	11 (48)
Clinical activity score before treatment (median (IQR))	3 (3–4) (95% CI 2–4)	5 (3–5) (95% CI 4–5)	0.0059
Diplopia before treatment*			0.57
Absent (%)	1 (13)	3 (13)
Intermittent (%)	2 (29)	3 (13)
Inconstant (%)	2 (29)	8 (35)
Constant (%)	2 (29)	9 (39)
Proptosis (median (IQR))	18 mm (17–19) (95% CI 17–19)	20 mm (18–23) (95% CI 19–21)	0.018
TRAb level (median (IQR))	15.9 IU/L (4.8–31.7) (95% CI 4.8–31.7)	8.1 IU/L (6.8–14.2) (95% CI 7.1–9.9)	0.17
GO-QoL visual function (median (IQR))	56 (50–75) (95% CI 50–75)	57 (43–78) (95% CI 56–63)	0.8
GO-QoL appearance (median (IQR))	50 (25–69) (95% CI 25–69)	69 (56–81) (95% CI 63–75)	0.09
miR-146a expression levels (median (IQR))	0.18 (0.15–0.25) (95% CI 0.15–0.25)	1.22 (0.17–22.82) (95% CI 0.29–7.2)	0.01
miR-21 expression levels (median (IQR))	0.27 (0.08–0.42) (95% CI 0.08–0.43)	0.46 (0.12–1.53) (95% CI 0.32–0.69)	0.07

^*According to Gorman Score: 0 = absent; 1 = intermittent; 2 = inconstant; 3 = constant.

GO-QoL, Graves’ ophthalmopathy quality-of-life questionnaire; TRAb, TSH receptor antibodies. Bold indicates statistical significance.