EC Clinical and Medical Case Reports

Objective: To study the effect of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the thyroid gland of the newborn babies of pregnant mothers with COVID-19.

Design: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the most lethal disease encountered recently, otherwise known as Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). COVID-19 causes pulmonary and systemic inflammation which produces multiorgan dysfunction. The thyroid gland is one of the important organs targeted by the disease. Pregnant mothers infected with SARS- CoV-2 have been shown to transmit the virus to their fetuses and newborns.

Patients: Newborn babies of COVID-19 infected mothers are admitted to a negative pressure isolation room in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and managed according to their clinical conditions. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for COVID-19 is carried on all babies at the age of 24 hours.

Measurements: Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) estimation was measured in these babies at the age of one to 24 hours and repeated at the age of 72 hours together with free thyroxine (FT4).

Results: Ninety-five babies were delivered to pregnant mothers with COVID-19. Three babies had positive PCR while the rest were negative. TSH values were abnormally high in 48% of the babies while FT4 values were abnormally high in 69% of these babies.

Conclusion: COVID-19 in pregnant mothers tends to exert its effect on the thyroid gland of the newborn by direct injury as the virus is known to be transmitted from the mother to her fetus. Thyroid functions of the newborns born to COVID-19 infected mothers were abnormal.

ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT 05385029.

Keywords: Neonatal Thyroid; Covid-19; SARS-CoV-2

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