Prevalence of Hypothyroidism Among Patients With COVID-19 in Tehran City, Iran

Numerous comorbidities are involved in the severity of the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Hypothyroidism’s impact on COVID-19 is yet to be adequately understood. Thyroid disorders are thought to play a role in the development and progress of COVID-19. This study aimed to determine the frequency of hypothyroidism among COVID-19 patients in hospitalized patients.

This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Tehran City, Iran. Demographic information and other specified data related to our research, mainly comorbidities, were collected using a structured questionnaire from electronic patient health records. A total of 493 medical records of COVID-19 patients were used for this study according to the inclusion criteria. Subsequently, the data were analyzed with SPSS, version 25, using descriptive and analytic statistics.

The prevalence of hypothyroidism was 13.2% (n=65) in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. This was higher (13.4% vs 2.3%) compared with the prevalence of hypothyroidism in the general Iranian population. Overall, in patients with hypothyroidism, about 21 patients (32.3%) expired, of whom 14 patients (66.7%) were female, and 7 (33.3%) were male. In these patients, no statistically significant difference was observed between the expired and discharged groups (Adjusted Odds Ratio: 1.04; 95% CI 0.59-1.83; P=0.87). As a result, hypothyroidism was not linked to an increased risk of death.

Hypothyroidism in hospitalized COVID-19 patients appears to be low. However, it seems more prevalent in the female gender but without significant adverse effects on the risk of mortality from this disease.