This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Maternal thyroid parameters linked to hypothyroid risk during early pregnancy
Medici M. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011;doi:10.1210/jc.2011-2398.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Maternal thyroid-stimulating hormone levels were positively linked to gestational age among women in the first half of pregnancy, according to study results.
The aim of the study was to examine maternal thyroid parameters during the first half of pregnancy to gain further understanding of how these parameters relate to those of the child.
The researchers measured serum TSH, free thyroxine, T4 and thyroid peroxidase antibody levels in 5,393 pregnant women. These measurements were taken between weeks 9 and 18 of pregnancy. The researchers also gathered serum TSH and free T4 levels in 3,036 newborns.
The maternal TSH reference range (2.5-97.5 percentile) was 0.03 mU/L to 4.04 mU/L. A positive correlation was observed between gestational age and maternal TSH (P=6.3310-5). Gestational age also positively correlated with T4 (P=1.4310-44). Gestational age negatively correlated with thyroid peroxidase antibody-positivity (P=.01).
Thyroid peroxidase antibody-positivity was linked to more subclinical (20.1% vs. 2.4%; P=1.5x10-39) and overt hypothyroidism (3.3% vs. 0.1%; P=1.4x10-10), according to the results.
A positive link was observed between maternal and cord TSH (beta=0.47 ± 0.15; P=1.3310-5) and maternal and cord FT4 (beta=0.11 ± 0.02; P=4.5310-6).
Participants were taken from the Generation R study.
“We confirm correlations of maternal thyroid parameters with gestational age during the first half of pregnancy and show a substantially increased risk of (subclinical) hypothyroidism in [thyroid peroxidase antibody]-positive mothers,” the researchers wrote. “A substantial part of the mothers had a TSH level above 2.5 mU/L, underlining the importance of using population-specific reference ranges.”
 |
Follow EndocrineToday.com on Twitter. |