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. 2013 Mar;98(3):965-72.
doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-2028. Epub 2013 Feb 13.

Maternal thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy and thyroid function of her child in adolescence

Fanni Päkkilä  1 , Tuija Männistö, Heljä-Marja Surcel, Aimo Ruokonen, Aini Bloigu, Anneli Pouta, Anna-Liisa Hartikainen, Marja Vääräsmäki, Marjo-Riitta Järvelin, Eila Suvanto
Affiliations

Maternal thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy and thyroid function of her child in adolescence

Fanni Päkkilä et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Mar.

Abstract

Context: Normal maternal thyroid function is important for fetal development. No knowledge exists on how maternal thyroid function and thyroid antibodies during early pregnancy affect thyroid function of the offspring.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between maternal and adolescent thyroid function parameters.

Design, setting, and participants: A total of 3673 mother-child pairs from the prospective, population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 participated in the study. Maternal serum samples were drawn in early pregnancy (<20th gestational week), and children's samples were drawn at the age of 16 years and analyzed for TSH, free T4 (fT4), and thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO-Abs).

Main outcome measures: TSH, fT4, and TPO-Ab concentrations were measured at the age of 16 years. Children of mothers with thyroid dysfunction (hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, or hypothyroxinemia) or TPO-Ab positivity were compared to those of euthyroid or TPO-Ab-negative mothers. The distributions are expressed as medians with 5th to 95th percentiles.

Results: Boys of hypothyroid mothers had higher TSH concentrations than those of euthyroid mothers: 2.0 (0.9-4.0) vs 1.7 (0.8-3.3) mU/L; P = .001. Children of hyperthyroid mothers had lower TSH concentrations than those of euthyroid mothers: 1.3 (0.6-4.2) vs 1.7 (0.8-3.3) mU/L, P = .013, for boys; and 1.3 (0.5-3.5) vs 1.6 (0.7-3.4) mU/L, P = .034, for girls. There were no differences in TSH or fT4 concentrations between children of hypothyroxinemic and euthyroid mothers. TPO-Ab-positive mothers more often had TPO-Ab-positive children (prevalence, 9.0 vs 3.7% among boys, and 22.7 vs 7.5% among girls).

Conclusions: Maternal thyroid dysfunction and TPO-Ab positivity during pregnancy seem to modify thyroid function parameters of offspring even in adolescence. Whether this increases the thyroid disease risk of the children is still unknown.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow chart of the study population in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Prevalence of TPO-Ab-positive children (%) grouped by maternal antibody status.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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