Effectiveness of educational materials on levels of knowledge of thyroid associated orbitopathy in an endocrinology clinic.

We aim to assess and quantify basic knowledge about TAO in patients presenting to an endocrinology clinic and the effect of different educational materials on patients' knowledge. This study was conducted in a tertiary care center involving 255 patients presenting to an endocrinology clinic. The study was divided into three consecutive phases: 1. a control phase without any educational materials in the waiting room, 2. exposure to educational posters, and 3. exposure to educational pamphlets. In the control population, only 16.5% of patients reported having knowledge of TAO, with a low average TAO-K score of 29.8 (out of 100). After the poster and pamphlet interventions, the percentage of patients having any knowledge of TAO increased across the control, poster and pamphlet phases: 16.5%, 25.9%, 63.5% respectively ( This study confirms that patients with thyroid dysfunction have a low level of awareness and depth of knowledge of TAO. We suggest the dissemination of educational material to increase the knowledge of TAO in thyroid patients. This will help with early symptom detection and ensure proper management of this interdisciplinary condition.

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© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors have no financial disclosures or conflicts of interest to declare. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.