A Comparison of Exophthalmic Goiter in Boston and Chicago

This study was made to determine whether the intensity of exophthalmic goiter is different in a goitrous area (Chicago) from that in a nongoitrous area (Boston). It seemed particularly worth while to do this because Coller and Potter1compared the disease in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Boston and found that in Ann Arbor the response to iodine was less and the ratio of males to females was greater. In a study of this sort it is preferable to deal with factors which can be measured. For this purpose we have selected the initial height of the basal metabolism, the reduction in basal metabolism during the administration of iodine, the sex ratio and the age at onset. THE INITIAL HEIGHT OF THE BASAL METABOLISM While marked individual variations occur, as a general rule the severity of the disease is roughly proportional to the elevation of the basal metabolism. In the