Endocrine Abstracts

Background and aims: The hypothyroidism may be prior to the conception, hence the interest of studying women during the genital activity period. Our objective was to determine the prevalence and the etiologies of the hypothyroidism in childbearing age women.

Materials and methods: Prospective study, on 270 childbearing age women. Study protocol: clinical examination, urinary iodine, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid antibodies. Statistics tests: collection of data on EPI INFO 5.1.

Results: Data expressed as mean (270 women), age: 30.3±0.4 years, weight: 65.9±0.9 kg, body mass index: 24.7±0.3 kg/m², urinary iodine: 225.6±5.8 μg/l, TSH: 2.4±0.2 mIU/l and FT₄: 14.8±0.2 pmol/l. The iodine deficiency was found in 19/270 women (7%). The hypothyroidism involved 31/270 women (11.5%), the subclinical form in 19/270 (7.1%) and the overt form in 12/270 (4.4%). Of the 31 hypothyroid women, the etiology of the hypothyroidism was related to the autoimmune thyroid disease in 19/31 women (61.3%) and to the iodine deficiency in only one case (3.23%).

Conclusion: In our study, 11.5% of women of childbearing age were in hypothyroidism (overt and subclinical forms). The etiology of the hypothyroidism was dominated by the thyroiditis.