SFEBES2021 Poster Presentations Neuroendocrinology and Pituitary (47 abstracts)
Pituitary and gonadal axes in patients with ‘Long COVID’: post hoc analysis
Sophie Clarke 1,2 , Maria Phylactou 1,2 , Bijal Patel 1,2 , Edouard Mills 1,2 , Beatrice Muzi 1,2 , Chioma Izzi-Engbeaya 1,2 , Sirazum Choudhury 1,2 , Bernard Khoo 3 , Karim Meeran 1,2 , Alexander Comninos 1,2 , Ali Abbara 1,2 , Tricia Tan 1,2 & Waljit Dhillo 1,2
1Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom; 2Imperial College NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom; 3University College London, London, United Kingdom
Background: It is apparent that COVID-19 may cause persistent symptoms beyond 12 weeks (‘long COVID’). However its underlying pathophysiology is unclear. Several symptoms of long COVID draw similarities to that of endocrine diagnoses. We recently observed that adrenal and thyroid function were normal in survivors of COVID-19 at follow-up. Here we assess additional endocrine axes that could plausibly have a role in long COVID to determine their relationship to ongoing symptoms.
Methods: Prospective observational study of 70 survivors of COVID-19 who attended for a research visit ≥3 months post-presentation. During this visit (08:00-09:30), a medical history including regarding persistent symptoms, and blood tests for pituitary and gonadal axis assessment, were taken.
Results: In our cohort, 59 (84.3%) patients had ≥1 persistent symptoms of COVID-19 at follow up, consistent with long COVID. Those with ≥7 symptoms were younger than those with none (mean age 40.1yrs vs 60.6yrs, P = 0 .002), and a greater proportion were female (P = 0.002). Growth hormone and IGF-1 were similar in those with fatigue, compared to those without, and did not alter with number of persistent symptoms. Similarly, prolactin did not differ by number of symptoms (P = 0.72). Out of 47 males, 9 had total testosterone <9.2nmol/l, and 20% had calculated free testosterone <0.225nmol/l. However neither total nor calculated free testosterone altered with number of ongoing symptoms (P = 0.34 and P = 0 .94 respectively). Pre-menopausal women had more symptoms than post-menopausal women (P = 0.03) although serum AMH did not alter by number of symptoms.
Conclusion: A large proportion of survivors of COVID-19 had ongoing symptoms ≥3 months post-presentation. However, there was no apparent correlation between the hormonal parameters assessed and number of symptoms experienced. Whilst this cohort is small, it suggests that extra-endocrine factors may contribute to ‘long COVID’, although further research is required to determine persistent effects of COVID-19 on endocrine function.
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Endocrine Abstracts
ISSN 1470-3947 (print) | ISSN 1479-6848 (online)
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