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An intriguing study reported by Pop et al(63) compared a number of developmental
variables in a group of children born to mothers with positive anti-TPO
antibodies measured at 32 weeks during pregnancy and compared these data
with a large number of children whose mothers had no thyroid antibodies
during gestation. A significant decrement in IQ (10 points) was found in
the children of antibody positive mothers after 9 years after allowing
for confounding factors. The reason why maternal antibodies may be related
to subsequent mental impairment is not clear and these important findings
require confirmation. A possible explanation may be the existence of low
or low/normal maternal thyroxine concentrations in early pregnancy.
These data add strength to previous suggestions by ourselves(16) and others(6,64,65) that there may be a strong case for routine screening for thyroid antibodies in early pregnancy in all women. |
