Assessment of Thyroid Function in COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

Since the egression of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) disease, more than 200 countries and areas around the world were affected. To the present, it is not clear whether COVID-19 has effects on thyroid function or not. The aim of the current study was to assess thyroid function in COVID-19 patients with history of thyroid disease and those without such a history and to find out the thyroid disturbance in both groups. The present study involved 86 COVID-19 affected patients admitted BioLab and the Balsam Hospital, Erbil/ Iraq between January and April 2021. Confirmation of COVID-19 infection all patients by Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) of nasopharyngeal swabs. Thyroid hormones, and thyrotropin (TSH) level was analyzed and assessed. Most of the participants (88.4%) had normal T3 level, and there was no significant difference (p = 0.069) between those with normal T3, TPO and with no history of thyroid disease and those with such a history and/or high TPO. T4 levels of the participants with no history of thyroid disease and normal TPO did not differ significantly (p =0.725) from those with a history of thyroid disease and/or high TPO. Regarding the level of TSH, there was significant difference (p<0.001) between the two fore mentioned groups. There is high prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism in the COVID-19 patients with family history of thyroid disease and high TPO antibody level.