Spectrum of Endocrine Dysfunction and Association With Disease Severity in Patients With COVID-19: Insights From a Cross-Sectional, Observational Study
Liza Das, Pinaki Dutta, Rama Walia, Soham Mukherjee, Vikas Suri, Goverdhan Dutt Puri, Varun Mahajan, Pankaj Malhotra, Shakun Chaudhary, Rahul Gupta, Satyam Singh Jayant, Kanhaiya Agrawal, Vijay Kumar, Naresh Sachdeva, Ashu Rastogi, Sanjay Kumar Bhadada, Sant Ram, Anil Bhansali
Abstract
Introduction Evidence on new-onset endocrine dysfunction and identifying whether the degree of this dysfunction is associated with the severity of disease in patients with COVID-19 is scarce. Patients and Methods Consecutive patients enrolled at PGIMER Chandigarh were stratified on the basis of disease severity as group I (moderate-to-severe disease including oxygen saturation <94% on room air or those with comorbidities) (n= 35) and group II (mild disease, with oxygen saturation >94% and without comorbidities) (n=49). Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal, thyroid, gonadal axes, and lactotroph function were evaluated. Inflammatory and cell-injury markers were also analysed. Results Patients in group I had higher prevalence of hypocortisolism (38.5 vs 6.8%, p=0.012), lower ACTH (16.3 vs 32.1pg/ml, p=0.234) and DHEAS (86.29 vs 117.8µg/dl, p= 0.086) as compared to group II. Low T3 syndrome was a universal finding, irrespective of disease severity. Sick euthyroid syndrome (apart from low T3 syndrome) (80.9 vs 73.1%, p= 0.046) and atypical thyroiditis (low T3, high T4, low or normal TSH) (14.3 vs 2.4%, p= 0.046) were more frequent in group I than group II. Male hypogonadism was also more prevalent in group I (75.6% vs 20.6%, p=0.006) than group II, with higher prevalence of both secondary (56.8 vs 15.3%, p=0.006) and primary (18.8 vs 5.3%, p=0.006) hypogonadism. Hyperprolactinemia was observed in 42.4% of patients without significant difference between both groups. Conclusion COVID-19 can involve multiple endocrine organs and axes, with a greater prevalence and degree of endocrine dysfunction in those with more severe disease.