4 research outputs found
Prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and autoimmunity in pregnant women with gestational and diabetes type 1
Abs t r a c t: Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the
prevalence of abnormal thyroid function and antithyroid antibodies during pregnancy in
women with diabetes type 1 and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).
Methods: The study group included 83 pregnant women who attended the
Outpatient Department of the Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders Clinic
in the period from 05.2009 to 11.2009. The one hundred-g. oral glucose tolerance test
(OGTT) was conducted on the pregnant women except for women with diabetes type 1.
Thyroid functions were evaluated in all the pregnant women. After routine screening for
GDM, thirty of the pregnant women were healthy and GDM was diagnosed in forty of
them. The rest, thirteen women, had diabetes type 1.
Results: The women who developed GDM showed a mean free thyroxin
concentration (fT4) significantly lower than that observed in the healthy pregnant
women and women with diabetes type 1. Among the pregnant women with GDM, 10
women or 25% had fT4 concentrations below the lower cut-off with normal thyroidstimulating
hormone concentrations (TSH). A statistically significant difference was
found in the prevalence of antithyroid antibodies (anti-TPO) between the (30%) women
with diabetes type 1 and (10%) healthy pregnant women (p < 0.05). In the women positive
for anti-TPO, TSH was significantly higher (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: The significantly higher prevalence of hypothyroxinemia in GDM
pregnancies and anti-TPO titres in pregnancies with diabetes type 1, than in healthy
pregnant women warrants routine screening for thyroid abnormalities in these groups of
pregnant women.
Key words: pregnancy, gestational diabetes, diabetes type 1, thyroid function, OGTT