ECE2022 Eposter Presentations Thyroid (219 abstracts)
1Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal; 2Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte EPE, Serviço de Medicina II, Lisboa, Portugal; 3Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte EPE, Serviço de Patologia Clínica, Lisboa, Portugal; 4IPATIMUP - Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
After almost 3 years since SARS-CoV-2infection was detected for the first time, knowledge about its repercussions on the thyroid gland function in the course of acute illness or in the post-COVID-19 are still poorly understood. This gland may be particularly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 as this coronavirus enters cells through ACE-2 receptors, which are largely expressed in the thyroid gland. Through an observational, longitudinal and retrospective study, we investigated the serum levels of TSH and fT4 in adult patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 admitted to an internal medicine ward of a tertiary hospital. We evaluated the changes in thyroid function during hospitalization of 221 patients and the correlation between these changes and the severity of the disease. In a smaller cohort (n1= 20) we evaluated thyroid function after hospital discharge. We found a high predictive value of serum TSH and fT4 values for severity of COVID-19 (OR = 2.5, P-value = 0.02). We used Pearson Chi-Square P-value and assume severe COVID-19 if PaO2/FiO2 < 300. We have shown that low TSH (mean 0.18 mU/l) and fT4 (mean 0.6 pmol/l) values have a higher prognostic value for mortality (OR = 2.3, P-value = 0.05) than other commonly used input data: hypertension, obesity, diabetes, PCR and IL-6 levels, sex and smoking. In the follow up cohort, thyroid function values tend to return to normal values over time. TSH and fT4 decreased values may be in line with the Euthyroid Sick Syndrome that has been described in acute diseases and as well as in patients with COVID-19.