Endocrine Abstracts

Fetal brain development depends on thyroid hormone and children born to mothers with low thyroid hormone levels have decreased cognitive function. Nineteen per cent of children born to mothers known to have a high TSH during gestation had an IQ <80 compared to 5% of children born to mothers known to have normal TSH levels in pregnancy (P<0.001; Haddow et al. 1999).We conducted a randomized trial of antenatal hypothyroidism screening...

Screening is defined as ‘the presumptive identification of unrecognized disease or defect by the application of tests, examinations, or other procedures which can be applied rapidly. Screening tests sort out apparently well persons who probably have a disease from those who probably do not’. Ideally all the following criteria should be met: The Condition should be an important health problem; well known epidemiology and natural history of the condition. The test shou...

Graves’ disease is the most common cause of autoimmune hyperthyroidism in pregnancy accounting for 0.1 to 1% (0.4% clinical and 0.6% subclinical) of all pregnancies. It may be diagnosed for the first time in pregnancy, may present as a recurrent episode in a woman with past history of hyperthyroidism, or in a women on antithyroid drugs (ATD). Less common non autoimmune causes include multinodular goiter, toxic adenoma, and factitious hyperthyroidism. More frequent than Gr...