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Updated: Aug 28, 2025

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes
Published on: June 28, 2024
Maternal subclinical hyperthyroidism and adverse pregnancy outcomes considering the iodine status: Tehran thyroid and
Sima Nazarpour1, Fahimeh Ramezani Tehrani2, Mina Amiri2
1Department of Midwifery, Varamin-Pishva Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran; Post-doctoral researcher, Reproductive Endocrinology Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Background:
Unlike overt thyroid diseases, the impacts of subclinical thyroid dysfunction, especially subclinical hyperthyroidism (SH), on adverse pregnancy outcomes are inconclusive.
Objective:
We aimed to investigate the effect of maternal SH on adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes based on urinary iodine concentration (UIC).
Methods:
A secondary analysis was run on data collected in the Tehran Thyroid and Pregnancy study (TTPs). We used the data of 131 women with SH and 1650 cases of euthyroid. Serum levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroxine (T4), free thyroxine index (FT4I), and thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) were assessed at the first prenatal visit. A generalized linear regression model was applied to identify the effect of SH on the pregnancy outcomes based on UIC, and the effects were estimated with a 95% confidence interval.
Results:
Preterm delivery was observed in 12.3% of women with SH and 6.7% of those with euthyroid (P = 0.03). Women with TSH< 0.3 mIU/L had a higher odds of preterm delivery than those with TSH≥ 0.3 regardless of urine iodine cut-off [OR= 2.27; 95% CI: (1.15, 4.48), p = 0.02]. Among those with UIC levels≥ 150 μg/L, the odds ratio of preterm delivery was 4.61 folds higher in the SH group compared to those with euthyroid [95%CI: (1.36, 15.71), p = 0.01)]. No significant difference between these two study groups was found in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit admission. Moreover, the results revealed no statistically significant difference in the means of neonatal anthropometric parameters in the SH and euthyroid groups in none of the subgroups of UIC (<150 or ≥150 µg/l).
Conclusions:
According to our results, maternal SH appears to be a risk factor for preterm delivery. This effect is more pronounced in women with higher UIC than those with lower UIC.
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