Emerging evidence from China indicates SARS- COV-2 may be associated with newly diagnosed Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: a clinical study of 54 patients with COVID-19 complicated by newly diagnosed disease

Background To date, 11 cases of COVID-19-associated newly diagnosed Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) have been reported. To investigate the clinical characteristics and influencing factors of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) complicated by newly diagnosed Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) and to inform clinical management. Method A total of 369 COVID-19 patients were enrolled and divided into three groups: Negative for Antibodies (NA group, n=288), HT group (n=54), and Thyroid Autoimmune (TA group, n=27). The clinical characteristics and influencing factors of the HT group were analyzed. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 27.0 statistical software. Results Patients in the HT group were older than those in the NA group 72.5 (63.5, 79.0) vs. 69 (58.3, 76.0) years, P = 0.031. Fatigue was significantly more common in the HT group compared to both the TA group and the NA group (53.7% vs. 22.2%, and 53.7% vs. 24.0%, all P0.001). The incidence rates of subclinical hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism in the HT group were significantly higher than in the NA group (29.6% vs. 13.9%, P = 0.020; 7.4% vs. 1.7%, P = 0.017). Multivariate analysis identified prolonged viral clearance time (OR = 1.136) as an independent risk factor for COVID-19 complicated by HT. Advanced age (OR = 0.944) and low FT3 (OR = 4.233) were identified as independent risk factors for increased mortality risk in COVID-19 patients. Conclusion COVID-19 patients complicated by HT are typically older, with fatigue being a distinguishing clinical manifestation. They are more prone to thyroid dysfunction, with subclinical hyperthyroidism being the predominant early thyroid function abnormality. Prolonged viral clearance time was identified as a factor associated with newly diagnosed HT.