Obstetric and neonatal outcomes associated with maternal hypothyroid disease

We sought to determine whether women with treated hypothyroid disease were more likely than women without thyroid disease to suffer adverse obstetric or neonatal outcomes or to deliver a child with a congenital anomaly.

Using an institutional database, we identified women with treated hypothyroid disease (n = 482) who delivered a baby at our institution during a 33-month period. We compared the occurrence of adverse obstetric or neonatal outcomes among these women to the occurrence among women without thyroid disease (n = 19,487).

Women with treated hypothyroid disease were not at increased risk for delivering a baby with low birth- weight,fetal demise, or congenital anomaly compared to the control group. Women with treated hypothyroid disease were more likely to have chronic hypertension (2.3% vs. 1.2%, p = 0.03) and had an increased risk of pre-eclampsia (4.3% vs. 2.6%,p= 0.03) compared to women without thyroid disease.

Women with treated hypothyroid disease are not at higher risk than the general population for adverse neonatal outcomes, but may be at increased risk for pre-eclampsia.