Thyroid autoimmunity and the risk of miscarriage.
Approximately one-third of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. The etiology of recurrent abortion remains unknown in approximately 50% of all women. In the early 1990s it was discovered that unselected euthyroid women who present with thyroid antibodies (thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin) in the first trimester of pregnancy have a two-four-fold increase in their miscarriage rates. The majority of studies investigating women with recurrent abortion have also found a significant increase in thyroid antibody positivity compared with controls. Although the etiology of miscarriage in thyroid antibody women remains unknown, recent data have revealed a potential direct effect of thyroglobulin antibodies on pregnancy loss in a murine model. Uncontrolled studies assessing the effect of levothyroxine on decreasing the miscarriage rate in euthyroid antibody positive women, have demonstrated a decreased miscarriage rate.
Stagnaro-Green
Alex
A
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, 185 South Orange Avenue, MSB C-652, Newark, NJ 07101, USA. stagnaas@umdnj.edu
Glinoer
Daniel
D
D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D013967:Thyroiditis, Autoimmune / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*
D001323:Autoantibodies