Journal of Pediatric Perspectives

Journal of Pediatric Perspectives

Non-Thyroidal Illness Syndrome in A Pediatric Intensive Care Unit During COVID-19 Era

Document Type : original article

Authors
Majid Sezavar Dokht Faroughi 1
Nosrat Ghaemi 1
Mohadeseh Abotorabi 2
Sepideh Bagheri 1
Nafiseh Pourbadakhshan 3
1 Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
2 Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
3 Clinical Research Development Unit of Akbar Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
10.22038/jpp.2026.94655.5631
Abstract
Background: Non-thyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS) is defined as a condition that occurs during acute illness. In this study, we evaluated thyroid function tests in pediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and compared them with children admitted to the PICU due to other disorders
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study where all patients between the ages of 1 month and 16 years admitted to the COVID-19 referral Hospital PICUs were evaluated over a 6 month period. A checklist was used to gather patient information. Thyroid hormones evaluated included; measurements of free T3, T3, T4 and TSH on the first day of admission Data was analyzed using the SPSS 21 statistical package.
Results: A total of 73 patients were evaluated during the 6 month study period. 40 (54.8%) of them were male and 53(45.2%) were female. The mean age of the study population was 5.9±4.3 years.13 patients were admitted due to SARS-Cov-19 infection.
Thyroid function consistent with Non thyroidal illness syndrome was observed in 25(34.2%) of these patients. The level of T3 and FT3 in patients with COVID-19 were significantly lower than in patients without COVID-19 infection (P<0.05). Body temperature in patients with abnormal thyroid tests was significantly higher than in patients with normal thyroid tests (P=0.040).
Conclusion: We found that one-third of children admitted to the PICU had NTIS. We suggest that FT3 can be a marker of COVID-19 patient severity, as its lower levels were observed in pediatric patients admitted to the PICU.
Keywords
COVID-19 infection
Non thyroidal illness syndrome
Pediatric
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Journal of Pediatric Perspectives
Volume 14, Issue 2
February 2026
Pages 19912-19919