Thyroid disease post-COVID-19 infection: Report of a case with new-onset autoimmune thyroid disease

Anh Ngoc Trinh; Kim Han Nguyen; Dinh Van Nguyen

doi:10.5415/apallergy.0000000000000023

Thyroid disease post-COVID-19 infection: Report of a case with new-onset autoimmune thyroid disease

Asia Pac Allergy. 2023 Mar;13(1):54-56. doi: 10.5415/apallergy.0000000000000023. Epub 2023 Apr 28.

Authors

Anh Ngoc Trinh¹, Kim Han Nguyen², Dinh Van Nguyen^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Internal Medicine Department, Vinmec Healthcare System, Hanoi, Vietnam.
² College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity, Hanoi, Vietnam.
³ Department of Medicine, Penn State University, PA, USA.

Abstract

We present hyperthyroidism with autoimmune thyroid disease, which developed a few weeks after the COVID-19 infection in a patient with no prior thyroid disease. Our case was described with clinical presentations, diagnostic tests, and subsequent patient management and compared to other similar reported cases. A 28-year-old female patient with no prior history of thyroid dysfunction developed hyperthyroidism 8 weeks after COVID-19 infection, confirmed by low thyroid stimulating hormone, high free thyroxine 4, and thyroid receptor antibody. She was treated and responded well to methimazole 20 mg in a few weeks. We searched the literature and found three other similar reported cases and compared those. The effects of COVID-19 infection on the immune system and the thyroid gland might explain the pathology of hyperthyroidism post-COVID-19 infection in this patient. This new-onset hyperthyroidism was found in a woman with mild symptoms and responded well to thiamazole and β-blockers.

Keywords: Autoimmune thyroiditis; COVID-19; thyroid diseases.

Publication types

Case Reports