PREVALENCE OF SUBCLINICAL AND UNDIAGNOSED OVERT HYPOTHYROIDISMIN HABITUAL ABORTION

Background:Hypothyroidism is the second most common endocrine disorder in women of childbearing age with an increased risk of pregnancy loss.Pregnancy loss associated with subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH), defined as elevatedthyroid-stimulating-hormone level, with normal free thyroxine. In overt hypothyroidism (OH), the free thyroxine is low.

Materials and methods:Cases recruited from those attending high risk pregnancy unit of obstetrics and gynecology department of Benha university hospital Egypt from 2019 till 2020. We examined theprevalence of subclinical and undiagnosed overt hypothyroidism in women with recurrent miscarriage, late miscarriageand stillbirth.Cases with sporadic miscarriages, autoimmune disorders, thrombophilias and known hypothyroidism were excluded.

Sample size: Two-hundredwomen were included. Median maternal age was 35 years (range 18-47). Subclinical andundiagnosed overt hypothyroidism was found in 24 cases (12%) of women. Sixteen women (8%) had subclinical hypothyroidism,eight (4%) had undiagnosed overt hypothyroidism. Results were compared to women with ongoing pregnancies.

Results: The prevalence of subclinical and undiagnosed overt hypothyroidism in the pregnancy loss population was 12% (24 /200), where 8 %( 16/200) were subclinical, and 4% (8/200) were undiagnosed overt.  In the control population, prevalence of hypothyroidism was 1.5% (3/200).