Mild thyroid abnormalities affect one in five women with a history of miscarriage or subfertility and can cause reduced fertility, miscarriage and pre-term birth, new research conducted in the United Kingdom has revealed.
This study, conducted across 49 hospitals in the U.K. over five years was published in Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, a leading peer-reviewed journal for original research relating to the clinical practice of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism.
The researchers studied over 19,000 women with a history of miscarriage or subfertility – a prolonged period of trying to become pregnant, who were tested for thyroid function, reports Medical Xpress.
It notes it was found that up to one in five of them had mild thyroid dysfunction, especially those with an elevated Body Mass Index – BMI, and of Asian ethnicity, but that overt thyroid disease was rare.
It was further discovered that women who suffered multiple miscarriages were no more likely to have thyroid abnormalities compared to women who have conceived naturally with a history of one miscarriage,
Mayo Clinic, an online medical platform, explains that the thyroid gland, which is shaped like a butterfly and located in the front of the neck, below the ‘Adam’s apple’ makes the thyroid hormone that helps to regulate the body’s metabolism, including how fast calories are burnt and how fast the heartbeats.
It states that diseases of the thyroid can make it to either make too much or too little of the hormone and that women are more likely than men to have thyroid diseases, especially right after pregnancy and after menopause.
Corroborating Mayo Clinic on the prevalence of thyroid disorders in women, the latest research reveals they are common in women of reproductive age.
The researchers said although the prevalence of thyroid disorders in pregnancy are well understood, little is known about how common the disorders are in women before pregnancy.
They concluded that detecting thyroid disorders before a woman becomes pregnant is essential as it can have negative effects such as reduced fertility, miscarriage and pre-term birth.
Dr. Rima Dhillon-Smith, of the University of Birmingham and the Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham, United Kingdom, said: “It is important to establish whether treatment of mild thyroid abnormalities can improve pregnancy outcomes, given the high proportion of women who could potentially be affected.”