Assesment of The Efficacy of Thyroid Function Screening in Early Pregnancy

Aim: To asses the efficacy of screening thyroid function during early pregnancy. Material and Method: One hundred and eighty five pregnant women who attended a secondary center for their first antenatal visits (6-12 weeks of gestation) between May 2012 and August 2012 were divided into two groups comprising 94 women regarded as high-risk and 91 low-risk. Maternal serum concentrations of TSH, fT4 and fT3 were measured. The thyroid function of the study group was evaluated for euthyroidism, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism, and subclinical hyperthyroidism according to TSH, fT3 and fT4 results. Analysis of data were performed, using the SPSS software version 11.5. In all tests, p<0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. Results: We screened thyroid function in 185 pregnant women, of whom 151 (81.62%) were euthyroid and 34 (18.38%)  had thyroid dysfunction, with 24 (12.98%) in the high-risk group and 10 (5.4%) in the low-risk group. When the results of thyroid function tests were evaluated as normal and abnormal, the most statistically significant characteristics for abnormal results were found to be history of antithyroid therapy and thyroid surgery (p=0.005, p=0.015). We would fail to spot about one third of thyroid dysfunctions if only high-risk women were screened. Discussion: Risk-stratified screening for maternal thyroid dysfunction during early pregnancy may led to neglected diagnoses of thyroid disorders. Results here indicated universal screening, but the debate regarding the targeting of high-risk cases seems set to continue into the future