Thyroid autoimmunity and infertility

Abstract

We aimed to study the prevalence of thyroid autoimmunity in infertile women; to assess whether thyroid autoantibodies were associated with non-organ-specific autoantibodies; and to investigate the influence of this dysfunction on the couples' chances of pregnancy. We assayed serum levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine, and microsomal and thyroglobulin autoantibodies in 149 infertile women. In patients with serum TSH levels in the hypothyroid or hyperthyroid range and/or with thyroid autoantibodies, we performed thyroid ultrasound examinations and assayed some non-organ-specific autoantibodies. We compared the duration of infertility in infertile patients with normal thyroid (control group), with thyroid abnormalities, and with thyroid autoantibodies in euthyroidism. Thirty infertile patients (20.1%) had thyroid abnormalities. The prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies was 17.4%. In infertile patients with thyroid autoantibodies, we found a poor association with non-organ-specific autoantibodies. Only the women with thyroid abnormalities and ovulatory dysfunction had a mean duration of infertility significantly longer than that of the control group. When the data were analyzed for euthyroid women with thyroid autoantibodies, we found no significant variation in the duration of infertility. Although we found a high prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies in infertile patients, the presence of these autoantibodies per se did not reduce the chance of pregnancy.