Incidence of De Quervain’s Thyroiditis in an Area With High Prevalence of Sars-Cov-2 Infection

Abstract Purpose: To evaluate the possible association between Covid-19 infection and subacute thyroiditis. Patients and Methods: We reviewed the medical and imaging records of patients referred to our outpatient setting dedicated to “thyroid emergency” (“bollini verdi”) from April 2020 to October 2020 of our Department. This out-patient clinic is devoted to patients who required an evaluation for severe hypothyroidism, thyrotoxicosis and neck discomfort or pain. All patients with a newly diagnosed subacute thyroiditis were selected. A retrospective collection of the data of all patients receiving a diagnosis of subacute thyroiditis was performed taking into account the same period of time (April-October) starting from 2016.Results: During the COVID-19 outbreak in our Region, (April 2020 to October 2020), 396 patients attended the out-patient emergency clinic. Among them, 10 (2.7%) patients received a diagnosis of subacute thyroiditis. In a single patient, a 44 yr old man, Covid-19 pulmonary infection had been diagnosed seven weeks before the diagnosis of subacute thyroiditis. All of the remaining patients were and still are Covid-19 free as confirmed by phone interview. The percentage of patients who received diagnosis of subacute thyroiditis in the same period starting from 2016 was superimposable (2.9%, 2.9%, 2.6% and 3.0% in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively). Conclusions: Our data do not demonstrate an increase of the incidence of subacute thyroiditis in Brescia areas, a region with the highest prevalence of COVID-19 in Italy during the period of the pandemic outbreak.Trial registration: no. 4631