Investigation of pituitary functions after acute coronavirus disease 2019.
Endocr J
; 69(6): 649-658, 2022 Jun 28.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1608363
ABSTRACT
Although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mainly involves the lungs, it also affects many systems. The hypothalamic/pituitary axis is vulnerable to hypoxia, hypercoagulation, endothelial dysfunction and autoimmune changes induced by COVID-19 infection. Given that there is no extensive investigation on this issue, we investigated the pituitary functions three to seven months after acute COVID-19 infection. Forty-three patients after diagnosis of COVID-19 infection and 11 healthy volunteers were included in the study. In addition to the basal pituitary hormone levels, growth hormone (GH) and hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axes were evaluated by glucagon stimulation test (GST) and low-dose adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation test, respectively. The peak cortisol responses to low-dose ACTH test were insufficient in seven (16.2%) patients. Twenty (46.5%) and four (9.3%) patients had inadequate GH and cortisol responses to GST, respectively. Serum insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) values were also lower than age and sex-matched references in four (9.3%) patients. The peak GH responses to GST were lower in the patient group when compared to the control group. Other abnormalities were mild thyroid-stimulating hormone elevation in four (9.3%) patients, mild prolactin elevation in two (4.6%) patients and central hypogonadism in four (9.3%) patients. Mean total testosterone values were lower in male patients when compared to male controls; however, the difference was not significant. These findings suggest that COVID-19 infection may affect pituitary functions, particularly the HPA and GH axes. These insufficiencies should be kept in mind in post-COVID follow-up. Long-term data are needed to determine whether these deficiencies are permanent or not.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pituitary Diseases
/
Pituitary Gland
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Endocr J
Journal subject:
Endocrinology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Endocrj.EJ21-0531
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