Successful Outcome of Pregnancy in Women with Hypothyroidism

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Abstract
Published data on the influence of hypothyroidism on fertility, gestation and the offspring are controversial. Nine hypothyroid women were studied during 11 pregnancies. Mean serum values for thyroxine, tiiodothyronine (T3), resin T3 uptake ratio, and thyroid-stimulating hormone [thyrotropin] were 2.3 .mu.g/dl, 82 ng/dl, 0.64 and 105 mU/ml, respectively. Four patients had iatrogenic hypothyroidism (3 remote thyroidectomy, 1 remote 131I therapy), 2 Hashimoto''s thyroiditis and 3 idiopathic primary hypothyroidism. Seven patients first presented untreated after the 24th wk of gestation. Two patients needed cesarean section; 7 delivered vaginally. There was 1 stillborn infant in the only patient with preeclampsia. Another infant had Down''s syndrome and an ostium primum defect (mother''s age, 41 yr). The remaining 9 infants were normal at birth. All placentas were normal. Follow-up in 7 infants up to 2.7 yr showed normal thyroid function and somatic development. Infants of hypothyroid mothers may be normal because their hypothalamic-pituitary thyroid axis develops independently from the mother.

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