Background and Objective: Relationship between astma and thyroid hormone dysfunction has been investigated in several studies and various results have been obtained. Given the limited number of studies, especially in Iran and in pediatric population, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between asthma severity and thyroid function tests.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 60 children with persistent asthma who were referred to Amirkola Children's Hospital, Babol, Iran during 2022 were selected. Diagnosis of asthma was based on the guidelines of The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and confirmed by a pediatric lung specialist. Also, the severity of asthma in children was divided into three categories: mild, moderate and severe according to clinical symptoms and lung function tests based on The Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma Expert Panel Report 3. Thyroid functional tests were measured by measuring TSH, T4 and T3. A significance level of p<0.05 was considered.
Findings: The average age was 7±2.6 years and 31 (51.66%) were boys. The average TSH was 2.67±1.39 µIU/ml; T4 and T3 were 8.94±2.26 µg/dl, 1.93±0.43 ng/ml respectively. The results of study showed that the mean TSH, T4, and T3 had no significant difference. Also, there was no significant relationship between the asthma severity and at least one of the abnormal thyroid tests (p=0.30; r=-0.13).
Conclusion: The level and mean values of TSH, T4 and T3 in children had no significant relationship with the severity of asthma.