Endocrine Abstracts

Background and aims: It has been demonstrated that the thyroid autoimmunity, during pregnancy, adversely affects the course of the pregnancy. The anomalies may be prior to the conception, hence the interest of studying the women during the genital activity period. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of the thyroiditis in childbearing age women.

Materials and methods: Prospective study, on 270 childbearing age women. Study protocol: clinical examination, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid antibodies. Statistics tests: collection of data on EPI INFO 5.1.

Results: Data expressed as mean (270 women), age: 30.3±0.4 years, weight: 65.9±0.9 kg, body mass index: 24.7±0.3 kg/m², TSH: 2.4±0.2 mIU/l and FT4: 14.8±0.2 pmol/l. The positivity of the antithyroperoxidase antibodies (TPO-ab) concerned 38/270 women (14.1%), the antithyroglobulin antibodies (Tg-ab) 42/270 women (15.6%) and one of the two antibodies (TPO-ab and / or Tg-ab) 54/270 women (20.0%). The mean TSH of the women with thyroiditis was 4.39±4.93 mIU/l vs 1.89±1.06 mIU/l for those without it (P<0.0001). The mean FT4 of the women with thyroid autoimmunity was 14.38±1.08 pmol/l vs 14.87±2.05 pmol/l for those with negative antithyroid antibodies, NS. Of the 54 women with thyroiditis, 35/54 were in euthyroidism (64.81%) and 19/54 of them were in hypothyroidism (35.19%), 9/54 in subclinical hypothyroidism (16.67%) and 10/54 in overt hypothyroidism (18.52%).

Conclusion: In our study, 20.0% of the women had thyroiditis and their mean TSH was significantly higher vs those with negative antithyroid antibodies. In the subgroup of women with thyroiditis, 64.81% were in euthyroidism.