Correlation of thyroid status with severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients

Abstract

Introduction: Thyroid status because of the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), which is a functional receptor for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in thyroid glands, maybe affects COVID-19 patients’ outcomes. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the correlation of thyroid status with the severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients. Patients and Methods: In a retrospective cohort study conducted on 521 COVID-19 patients, data were collected by a demographic questionnaire and a checklist of patient outcomes (death/recovery) from the hospital information system (HIS) and analyzed by SPSS version 26 and binary logistic regression. Data about thyroid status were collected from clinical documents and laboratory test data. Results: Most patients were male (57.2%) with a mean age of 56.12 ± 17.4 years. Seventy-seven patients had a severe stage of disease, and 55 patients died. Twenty-one patients had hyperthyroidism, and 53 patients had hypothyroidism. Results showed that the correlation between hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism with severity and mortality risk of COVID-19 patients was insignificant (P > 0.05). Conclusion: In this study, we concluded that, thyroid status is not associated with COVID-19 outcomes such as severity or mortality.