Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
TURKISH JOURNAL OF BIOCHEMISTRY-TURK BIYOKIMYA DERGISI, cilt.49, sa.2, ss.227-235, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
Objectives: To evaluate the thyroid hormone levels and infection markers in COVID-19 patients and compare them to those in non-COVID-19 patients with infection in a large retrospective dataset. Methods: In this study, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroid hormones (free T3 and free T4), and several infection markers were reviewed. The study group was divided into three groups that had no thyroid-related disorders: control patients (Group 0; n=7,981), COVID-19 patients (Group 1; n=222), and non-COVID-19 patients with infection (Group 2; n=477). The data were assessed for correlation and group comparisons. Results: There was a reduction in median (25th-75th percentile) fT3 levels in COVID-19 patients 4.17 pmol/L (3.46-4.85) compared to non-COVID-19 patients with infection 4.65 pmol/L (4.12-5.15), p<0.0001. We detected a negative correlation between fT3 and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in Group 1 (r=-0.534) and Group 2 (r=-0.346) (p<0.0001), indicating a relatively stronger link between fT3 and NLR in COVID-19 patients than non-COVID-19 patients with infection. Additionally, the fT3 levels remained significantly different between study groups when the model was adjusted for age, gender, and infection markers. Conclusions: COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 infections are associated with low fT3 levels, which likely represent the suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis from non-thyroidal illness syndrome.