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Screening women for thyroid problems should be part
of routine prenatal testing because it could help to reduce miscarriages,
since new research has shown that pregnant women with underactive thyroid
glands have a four-fold increased risk of miscarriage
in the second three months of pregnancy than other women.
About 2%
of pregnant women suffer from hypothyroidism, which can lead to:
- heart disease
- osteoporosis
- infertility
- impaired IQ in offspring
- other problems
Researchers performed a study of 9,000 pregnant
women and found that:
- Expectant mothers with elevated levels of thyroid
stimulating hormone (TSH) had a 3.8%
risk of late miscarriage.
- Pregnant women without the problem had only a
0.9% miscarriage risk.
- The
risk of miscarriage increased as TSH levels rose.
According to the authors, six out of every 100 late
miscarriages could be attributed to a thyroid problem.
"Because little is known about the cause of
late miscarriages, our findings offer a new opportunity to possibly prevent
some of these," according to Allan.
"Further research may show that early detection
and treatment for maternal hypothyroidism is the key to preventing these
miscarriages," he said.
Journal of Medical
Screening
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