josephlott wrote:My question is is there a deep correlation between
smoking and grave’s disease?
… but i was wondering if smoking directly causes graves disease.
Kim is correct. Smoking is not a direct cause of Graves, but can exacerbate certain conditions (as she stated TED, for instance) caused by Graves.
Graves has a hereditary component. It affects up to 2% of the female population, and is between five and ten times as common in females as in males.
The exact trigger for autoantibody production which is at the heart of the Graves condition is not known. Some people may have a genetic predisposition to develop TSH receptor autoantibodies. So, no, smoking by itself is not a cause.
