Evidence Shows Thyroid Dysfunction Following Moderate-to-Severe COVID

June 2, 2022

Research was recently presented at the 24th European Congress of Endocrinology in Milan, Italy demonstrating a link between thyroid dysfunction and a previous moderate-to-severe COVID-19 infection. 100 patients who had been hospitalized for severe COVID had their thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels analyzed upon admission and a high occurrence of thyroiditis was seen, though their thyroids normalized soon after recovery. Decreased TSH production is also seen in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease where the thyroid is attacked by the body’s own cells. A follow-up study was conducted 12 months later in the same population of patients and regions of thyroiditis were still visible in half. They also found decreased uptake abilities in the thyroids of four out of six patients (a thyroiditis hallmark).