Women who have had a miscarriage or are experiencing fertility problems often suffer from thyroid disorders according to a new study conducted on 19,000 women over 5 years.
- One in 5 women who have miscarried or have fertility problems suffer from mild thyroid dysfunction
- Women with a high BMI are more at risk
- Treating these thyroid abnormalities may improve pregnancy outcomes
Common among women of childbearing age, thyroid abnormalities affect up to one in five women who have had a miscarriage or are experiencing fertility problems, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Until now, we knew that a pregnant woman’s thyroid balance is often upset by pregnancy-induced hormonal changes, but we had little information about the prevalence of these disorders before pregnancy.
The cases of 19,000 women studied
Researchers from the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom), carried out a study with 49 British hospitals over 5 years, studying the cases of 19,000 women aged 16 to 41. All of them had either had a miscarriage or had fertility problems. Analyzing their medical results, the researchers found that as many as 1 in 5 women in these two cases had mild thyroid dysfunction, especially those with high BMIs and those of Asian descent. However, the development of thyroid disease remained rare.
“It is important to determine whether treating these mild thyroid abnormalities can improve pregnancy outcomes, given the high proportion of women who could potentially be affected.”, concludes Rima Dhillon-Smith, professor at the University of Birmingham. Further studies are needed for this, but these results constitute a major advance in the field of obstetrics and gynecology.
The causes of miscarriage
Each year, nearly 20,000 women have a miscarriage in France, i.e. they are victims ofspontaneous termination of pregnancy during the first 5 months of gestation. Miscarriages occurring between 14 and 22 weeks of amenorrhea are more rare (less than 1% of pregnancies).
In the majority of cases, the miscarriage is due to a genetic anomaly of the embryo, but certain diseases of the mother can be at the origin such as celiac disease, poorly controlled diabetes, hormonal disorders, problems gynecological, autoimmune or thyroid disease. The risk of miscarriage can also be increased by taking aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
In 2017, researchers suggested that stress could increase the risk of miscarriage by 42%. “While chromosomal abnormalities underlie many cases of spontaneous termination of pregnancy, the results of our meta-analysis support the idea that a high level of psychological stress before and during pregnancy is also associated with a risk of miscarriage. lying down”they wrote.
In 2019, another study conducted by researchers from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, demonstrated that the risk of spontaneous miscarriage was lowest in women aged 25 to 29 (10%) and increased rapidly after 30 years. , reaching 53% among women aged 45 and over. Similarly, according to them, after the spontaneous termination of a pregnancy, the risk of another miscarriage increases by half and doubles after two miscarriages. It is up to four times higher after three consecutive miscarriages.
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