Hypothyroidism does not lead to worse prognosis in COVID-19: findings from the Brazilian COVID-19 registry

Abstract

Background: It is not clear whether previous thyroid diseases influence the course and outcomes of COVID-19.

Methods: The study is a part of a multicentric cohort of patients with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis from 37 hospitals. Matching for age, sex, number of comorbidities, and hospital was performed for the paired analysis.

Results: Of 7,762 patients with COVID-19, 526 had previously diagnosed hypothyroidism and 526 were matched controls. The median age was 70 years, and 68.3% were females. The prevalence of comorbidities was similar, except for coronary and chronic kidney diseases that were higher in the hypothyroidism group (p=0.015 and p=0.001). D-dimer levels were lower in patients with hypothyroid (p=0.037). In-hospital management was similar, but hospital length-of-stay (p=0.029) and mechanical ventilation requirement (p=0.006) were lower for patients with hypothyroidism. There was a trend of lower in-hospital mortality in patients with hypothyroidism (22.1% vs 27.0%; p=0.062).

Conclusion: Patients with hypothyroidism had a lower requirement of mechanical ventilation and showed a trend of lower in-hospital mortality. Therefore, hypothyroidism does not seem to be associated with a worse prognosis.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemiology; Hypothyroidism; Mortality; Prognosis.