Thyroid peroxidase antibody in hypothyroidism: It’s effect on pregnancy

Abstract

Objective: To find out the prevalence of thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO) in pregnant women with hypothyroidism and to analyze its effect on pregnancy outcome. Methods: The prospective study was conducted on well-controlled hypothyroid pregnant patients attending the antenatal clinic at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India from July 2009 to June 2011 and has delivered. The women were grouped into two groups depending on presence or absence of TPO antibody. Maternal complications during pregnancy and perinatal outcome were noted and compared between these two groups. Results: During the study period, 2479 women attended the high-risk pregnancy clinic. Among which 196 women were found to be hypothyroidism making prevalence of hypothyroidism as 7.91%. A total of 140 were found to be well controlled (5.6%) and included for study. Amongst the women with hypothyroidism, 40% were TPO positive. Complications like threatened abortion, spontaneous abortion, preterm delivery, fetal malformations, intrauterine growth restriction, and adverse fetal outcomes like poor apgar scores and prolonged nursery admissions were more in patients with positive TPO antibodies. Conclusion: TPO positivity is considered as high risk for pregnancy complications and hence those patients should be monitored more carefully.