Abstract

The objective of this study is to establish association between thyroid hormone status & pre-eclampsia and also the level of thyroid hormone concentration with severity of pre-eclampsia. Methods: In this observation based descriptive cross sectional study, 100 pregnant women including 50 cases of pre-eclamptic mothers and 50 control ie normotensive pregnant women attending tertiary care hospital during one year were recruited in the study. Serum FT3, FT4 and TSH were measured in both cases & control. Association between thyroid hormones status with pre-eclampsia as well as with its severity was noted. Result: Significant association between pre-eclampsia and thyroid hormone levels was found between the normotensive group and pre-eclamptic group (p value<0.001 for FT3, 0.0345 for FT4 & <0.0001 for TSH). The association between severity of pre-eclampsia and thyroid hormone status was also found to be statistically significant (p value 0.0001 for FT3, <0.0001 for FT4 and TSH). Sub-clinical hypothyroidism was more common in mild pre-eclampsia group but overt hypothyroidism more commonly seen in severe pre-eclamptic group (chi-square value<0.0001). Conclusion: Positive correlation was seen between thyroid dysfunction & pre-eclampsia. Thyroid hormone concentration may reflect the severity of pre-eclampsia. The association may be useful in understanding the pathological process of pre-eclampsia as well as criteria for early prediction of pre-eclampsia.

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