Maternal hypothyroidism and neonatal outcome

Background: Hypothyroidism is widely prevalent in pregnant women but rate of detection is very low in developing countries. Hypothyroidism is easily treated, timely detection and treatment of the disorder could reduce the burden of adverse fetal and maternal outcomes. Objective of the study was to determine the immediate outcome in neonates born to mother with hypothyroidism.Methods: Prospective descriptive study.110 babies were observed for neonatal outcome.55 babies were born to hypothyroid mothers and 55 babies were born to mothers without thyroid abnormalities. These babies were observed for type of delivery, Gestational age, need for intensive care unit, growth parameters, Interventions required during the stay, sepsis was compared with those born to mothers without hypothyroidism.Results: Both the groups were similar in terms of type of delivery. No association between maternal hypothyroidism and Hypertensive disorders, gestational diabetes. Cases with prematurity are almost same in both groups. Most of babies were term gestation. The birth weight of babies was similar. Majority from both the group did not require any oxygen support. Majority of babies were in appropriate for age category. Both the groups were similar in incidence of small for gestational age and large of gestational age babies.Conclusions: Babies born to well treated hypothyroid mothers were similar in all aspects to babies born to non-hypothyroid mothers. These signify the importance of screening all antenatal mothers for hypothyroidism and prompt treatment to prevent adverse consequences on neonatal outcome.