The impact of pre-existing thyroid diseases on susceptibility to respiratory infections or self-reported sickness during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

• DOI: 10.20945/2359-3997000000436
• Publication Date: 2022-06-06T13:29:42Z
• Authors: Maartje A. J. Rops; Simone J. C. F. M...; Rosanne C. van De...; Martin Jaeger; Leo A. B. Joosten; Marco Medici; Mihai G. Netea; Jan W. A. Smit; Romana T. Netea-M...
• Keywords: Radboudumc 18: Healthcare improvement science RIHS: Radboud Institute for Health Sciences; Radboudumc 4: lnfectious Diseases and Global Health RIMLS: Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences; 0301 basic medicine; SARS-CoV-2; R; Thyroid dysfunction; COVID-19; Radboudumc 9: Rare cancers RIMLS: Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences; RC648-665; Thyroid Diseases; Diseases of the endocrine glands. Clinical endocrinology; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; Radboudumc 16: Vascular damage RIHS: Radboud Institute for Health Sciences; SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being; Medicine; Humans; Original Article; Internal Medicine - Radboud University Medical Center; Self Report; Pandemics; Retrospective Studies

This study aimed to evaluate the incidence, severity and presence of symptoms of respiratory tract infections and COVID-19, in patients with pre-existing thyroid dysfunction compared to individuals without thyroid diseases, during the peak month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands.In this retrospective observational cohort study, all patients currently under follow-up at the Radboud UMC for thyroid dysfunction received a digital questionnaire. Primary outcomes were incidence of self-reported sickness and cases diagnosed with COVID-19. We compared these primary outcomes between these patients and individuals without thyroid diseases that received the same questionnaire, recruited from the Human Functional Genomics Cohort at the Radboud UMC.In total, 238 patients with pre-existing thyroid dysfunction and 161 controls were included. Patients did not report more sickness (30.7% vs. 29.2%; p = 0.752) or microbiologically confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections (1.7% vs. 0.6%; p = 0.351). COVID-19 clinical diagnosis was more frequently made in patients with thyroid diseases (4.2% vs. 0.6%; p = 0.032), despite overall lower incidence of self-reported respiratory related symptoms (52.8% vs. 63.8%; p = 0.028), compared to controls. Sub-group analysis between patients with autoimmune and not-autoimmune thyroid dysfunction did not reveal significant associations with respect to any of the outcome measures.This retrospective survey of a cohort of patients with from a tertiary academic hospital suggests that pre-existing thyroid dysfunction, independent from the aetiology, does not lead to an apparent risk to develop respiratory tract infections and COVID-19 related symptoms.