A longitudinal study of thyroid function in Saudi pregnant women

الملخص EN

A prospective longitudinal study of thyroid function was undertaken in 23pregnant women.

There was significant increase in serum free thyroxine and a decrease in thyrotropin in early pregnancy relative to the levels in non-pregnant controls.

Free thyroxine significantly correlated with human chorionic-gonadotrophin in early pregnancy.

The level of decreased and that of thyrotropin increased significantly towards the end of pregnancy.

On followup of pregnant women, thyroid function returned to normal 6 weeks postpartum.

These data indicate that the thyroid gland is physiologically activated in early pregnancy, possibly by human chorionic gonadotrophin.