RISK FACTORS OF THYROID PATHOLOGY FORMATION IN OUTPATIENT PREGNANT POPULATION

Several medical - biological and social - hygienic factors have been found to account for the definite increase in the incidence of thyroid gland disorders in reproductive age and pregnant women. Aim of our study was to identify the risk factors for development of thyroid gland pathology in outpatient pregnant women. Observational study - "case - control" study has been conducted at the base of David Gagua Hospital Ltd. Main (study) group involved 292 pregnant patients with established thyroid pathology. Control group included 58 conditionally healthy pregnant participants without any demonstrated thyroid pathology. Study of risk factors was performed by initial interviewing and specialized questionnaire recording process (so-called two-stage model of interviewing). Characteristics of diet, sleep, physical activity, including harmful habits, socio-economic and hereditary factors were studied; quantitative indices of risk for each component were calculated: odds ratio (OR) and attributable risk (AR), taking into account 95% confidence interval (CI). The Pearson's criterion χ2 with respective P value and the calculator developed by International Society of Evidence-based Medicine were used to obtain the final results. Statistically significant risk factors for development of thyroid pathology were identified, which included: Thyroid gland diseases and hereditary history of diabetes mellitus; low economic income, unfavorable living conditions, unhealthy dietary habits. Despite of the difficulty of assessment of causative relationship between above mentioned components, their strong correlation should be taken into account when defining the strategy of preventive measures, moreover the most part of identified risk factors are manageable.