Association between Thyroid Disease and Severe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Infection: A Meta-Analysis

Background: covid-19 has resulted in an emerging respiratory infection with a pandemical diffusion since december 2019. we aimed to elucidate whether the presence of thyroid disease might increase the risk of severe covid-19 infection. methods: studies reporting seriously ill in covid-19 patients with and without thyroid disease combined were searched and 11 relevant studies were subjected to our analysis, and pooled odds ratios (ors) together with 95% confidence intervals (cis) were calculated by using stata and review manager software. results: in total, 2,995 covid-19 patients were included in this study. the pooled ors were calculated using a fixed-effects model according to the heterogeneity. the pooled results revealed that thyroid disease was associated with severe covid-19 infection in patients (or = 2.14, 95 % ci: 1.23–3.72, p = 0.007). in the sub-group analysis by type of thyroid disease, hypothyroidism was positively associated with risks of severe covid-19 infection (or = 4.78, 95 % ci: 1.59–14.36, p = 0.005), however, no obvious difference was found in the risk regarding the severe covid-19 infection amongst hyperthyroidism or unclassified thyroid disease. in addition, subgroup analysis stratified by ethnic groups demonstrated that thyroid disease was linked to the risks of severe covid-19 infection in asian patients (or = 2.41, 95 % ci: 1.30–4.48, p = 0.005) rather than non-asian (or = 1.31, 95 % ci: 0.35–4.87, p = 0.684). conclusion: this study indicates a correlation between thyroid disease and severe covid-19 infection.