Abstract
Abstract
In this Video Endocrinology Fireside Chat Publication Spotlight, we discuss our recent study by Li et al. entitled “COVID-19 and Thyroid Function: A bi-directional two-sample Mendelian randomisation study” published in Thyroid. The first author Dr. Gloria Li from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the senior author Dr. Ching-Lung Cheung from the University of Hong Kong discussed the rationale, study design, results, and significance of the findings. Thyroid is considered a target tissue of the SARS-CoV-2, because of the high expression of ACE2 receptor.
However, the relationship between COVID-19 phenotypes and thyroid function remains largely unexplored. Using the two-sample Mendelian randomization approach, we showed that host genetic susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection is causally linked to hypothyroidism, but not other thyroid dysfunction and thyroid hormone level traits. Patients who are genetically susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection are associated with an increased risk of hypothyroidism. Notably, together with the potential effect of actual SARS-CoV-2 infection, it is expected that the prevalence of hypothyroidism would be higher in people who ever had SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Our findings call for further investigation of the incidence of hypothyroidism in people who ever had SARS-CoV-2 infection. It would be beneficial if clinicians are aware of the potential increased risk of hypothyroidism among this group of patients. In the reverse direction, we did not observe any significant causal association of genetically determined thyroid-related traits with COVID-19 phenotypes. Our findings support the current assumption that patients with autoimmune thyroid disease are unlikely more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection or more severe COVID-19.
Dr. Ching-Lung Cheung received honorarium and/or research support from Amgen, Roche, and Abbott outside the submitted work.
Runtime of video: 13 mins 26 secs
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