Primal Health Databank: Study
| Entry No: | 0261 |
| Title: | Maternal Thyroid Deficiency during Pregnancy and subsequent Neuropsychological development of the child. |
| Author(s): | Haddow JE, Palomaki GE, Allan WC, et al. |
| Reference: | N Engl. J Med. 1999; 341 (8):549-555 |
| Place of Study: | USA |
| Abstract: | When thyroid deficiency occurs simultaneously in a pregnant woman and her fetus, it is well known that the child’s neuropsychological development is adversely affected. Whether developmental problems occur when only the mother has hypothyroidism during prenancy is not known. The serum samples collected from 25,216 pregnant women between January 1987 and March 1990 were stored. The authors located 62 women with abnormal values of thyrotropin and thyroxine suggestive of thyroid deficiency; they also located 124 matched women with normal values. Their seven-to-nine-year-old children, none of whom had hypothyroidism as newborns, underwent 15 tests relating to intelligence, attention, language, reading ability, school performance, and visual-motor performance. The children of the 62 women with deficiency performed slightly less well on all 15 tests. Among these 62, 48 were not treated for the condition during the pregnancy. The IQ scores of their children averaged 7 points lower than those of the 124 matched controls |
| Keyword(s): | hypothyroidism, intellectual development, IQ, neuro-development |
| Discussion: | An opportunity to recall that thyroid hormones play an important role in brain development. |
| See Also: | No related entries mentioned for this entry |
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