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New Study Claims that COVID-19 might Cause Thyroid Sickness in Patients

Dorota Dworakowska

With the NHS guidelines about people who are high risk and the Government’s advice on social distancing for vulnerable people, I’m quite naturally hearing from anxious patients who are asking if their own thyroid condition raises their risk. This is happening particularly because of the general reference to “any other serious underlying condition”. Try not to worry. I realize it’s difficult to find information online; this is because coronavirus is a new illness with no available studies on its effect on people with thyroid conditions. However, thyroid problems are common worldwide and there have been no indication from studies of thyroid patients in China or elsewhere that coronavirus has been a big problem. So there is currently no reason to believe that people with thyroid conditions, whether autoimmune or not, are at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. This applies to Hypothyroidism-including Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Hyperthyroidism - including Graves’ disease. The only situation in which you may be included in a high-risk group is if you have thyroid eye disease and are receiving steroid or immunosuppression therapy. And some patients will be receiving immunosuppressant therapy for other autoimmune conditions which are associated with thyroid disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus.