The Impact of Interferon Beta-1b Therapy on Thyroid Function and Autoimmunity Among COVID-19 Survivors.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne)
; 12: 746602, 2021.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1477814
ABSTRACT
Background:
Some studies have indicated that interferon (IFN) may be valuable in COVID-19. We aimed to evaluate the impact of short-term IFN on incident thyroid dysfunction and autoimmunity among COVID-19 survivors.Methods:
We included consecutive adults without known thyroid disorder admitted to Queen Mary Hospital for COVID-19 from July 2020 to January 2021 who had thyroid function tests (TFTs) and anti-thyroid antibodies measured both on admission and at three months.Results:
226 patients were included (median age 55.0 years; 49.6% men) 135 were IFN-treated. There tended to be more abnormal TFTs upon reassessment in IFN-treated patients (8.1% vs 2.2%, p=0.080). 179 patients (65.4% IFN-treated) had a complete reassessment of anti-thyroid antibodies. There were significant increases in titres of both anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies (anti-TPO baseline 29.21 units [IQR 14.97 - 67.14] vs reassessment 34.30 units [IQR 18.82 - 94.65], p<0.001) and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (anti-Tg baseline 8.23 units [IQR 5.40 - 18.44] vs reassessment 9.14 units [IQR 6.83 - 17.17], p=0.001) in the IFN-treated group but not IFN-naïve group. IFN treatment (standardised beta 0.245, p=0.001) was independently associated with changes in anti-TPO titre. Of the 143 patients negative for anti-TPO at baseline, 8 became anti-TPO positive upon reassessment (seven IFN-treated; one IFN-naïve). Incident anti-TPO positivity was more likely to be associated with abnormal TFTs upon reassessment (phi 0.188, p=0.025).Conclusion:
IFN for COVID-19 was associated with modest increases in anti-thyroid antibody titres, and a trend of more incident anti-TPO positivity and abnormal TFTs during convalescence. Our findings suggest that clinicians monitor the thyroid function and anti-thyroid antibodies among IFN-treated COVID-19 survivors, and call for further follow-up studies regarding the clinical significance of these changes.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Thyroid Diseases
/
Thyroid Function Tests
/
Thyroid Gland
/
Autoimmunity
/
Interferon beta-1b
/
COVID-19
/
COVID-19 Drug Treatment
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne)
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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