Presentations and outcomes of thyroid storm

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe the characteristics and outcome of thyroid storm patients presenting at two tertiary care centres of Karachi, i.e. at Dow University of Health Sciences; and Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, from December 2018 to May 2019. All patients between 18-70 years of age, who were admitted with thyroid storm and fulfilled the Burch-Wartofsky criteria, were inducted. Demographics including age, gender, clinical presentations, systemic symptoms, clinical examination of the thyroid and laboratory findings were reviewed from the file records to identify factors associated with mortality using the available data. Overall, five (62.5%) out of eight patients were female. The mean age was 43 ±1.67 years. Infections were the most common comorbid condition followed by cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases. The in-hospital mortality rate was 87.5% (n=07).