Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Thyroid Treatment in Infertility Lowers Miscarriage Rates

In women with infertility who have thyroid autoimmunity (TIA), they fare better when treated with levothyroxine as compared to placebo. Women are 5-10 times more likely to make antibodies against the thyroid than men.

Here are the results of a large group of pregnant women, 12% of whom were TIA-positive. Half of the TAI-positive group was treated with levothyroxine during gestation, whereas the other half was left untreated. The endpoints of the study were to assess the outcome of pregnancy and changes in thyroid function by comparing the group of TAI-positive women without treatment with those who were treated and with healthy pregnant controls. Drastic reductions in the rates of miscarriage (75%) and premature delivery (69%) were reported among TAI-positive women who had received levothyroxine since early gestation and throughout pregnancy. Thyroid function test results were normal for women with TAI who received levothyroxine, whereas 19% of women in the control group became subclinically hypothyroid at the time of parturition. Published by Negro et al, 2006.

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