What is it about?
Disorders of thyroid function are more common in women and can occur during pregnancy, after pregnancy (often resulting in postpartum depression), or may be the cause of infertility, foetal abnormalities, stillbirth and premature labour.
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Why is it important?
Maternal disease can lead to neonatal hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, which may impair the future intellectual, emotional and physical development of the offspring, if unrecognized. Although less than 2% of babies who are born to mothers with Graves’ disease suffer from newborn hyperthyroidism, the mortality rate of this disease may be as high as 22%.
Perspectives
Routine post-natal screening of infants of mothers with hypothyroidism is probably unjustified in addition to the universal screening for CHT after birth, because the risk of babies of women with Hashimoto disease developing transient CHT caused by maternal TSH receptor blocking antibodies is negligible. Routine post-natal screening of all infants of mothers with hyperthyroidism is also probably not necessary because the risk of neonatal hyperthyroidism is best predicted by the measurement of TSH-receptor antibodies in pregnant women.
Dr Michael O Ogundele
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Postgraduate Medical Centre
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Investigation of infants born to mothers with thyroid disorders: an ongoing search for consensus, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, February 2010, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2009.01140.x.
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