Publication:

Association and correlation of thyroid dysfunction with anemia types in pregnant women of northern Andhra Pradesh, India

Background Thyroid dysfunction is a common disorder in pregnancy along with anemia. But no study has evaluated the association between them. To estimate the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and its association with anemia types in pregnant women during 1st trimester.

Methods Three hundred and eighty pregnant women with <12 weeks of gestational age were selected for the study with no history of thyroid dysfunction and anemia. All the pregnant women were classified into A, euthyroid and B, thyroid dysfunction groups. The B group was again subdivided into hypothyroid, subclinical hypothyroid (SCH), hyperthyroid according to nature of dysfunction. 5 ml of blood sample was collected from all subjects to analyse thyroid hormones and erythrocyte indices.

Results Out of 380 subjects, euthyroid was found to be 77.9%, and rest 22.1% were with thyroid dysfunction. Out of 84 thyroid dysfunction, hypothyroid was found to be 7.9%, SCH 13.9% and hyperthyroid was 0.3%. Out of 296 euthyroid women, anemia was identified in 97 pregnant women (32.8%) whereas in thyroid dysfunction women it was 43 women out of 84 (51.2%) which is a statistically significant. Significantly higher frequency of microcytic hypochromic anemia and normocytic normochromic anemia types were also found in thyroid dysfunction groups compared to euthyroid group (p<0.05). However, no significance between the thyroid dysfunction groups, Statistically significant difference was observed in the Hb concentration, RBC count, MCV, MCH and PCV between euthyroid and different thyroid dysfunction conditions (p<0.05). A statistically significant positive correlation was found between fT4 and erythrocyte indices.

Conclusions As fT4 and TSH correlated with erythrocyte indices, it is advisable to screen for thyroid dysfunction and vice versa so as to prevent the complications associated with anemia and thyroid dysfunction.