ABSTRACT
Thyroid disease is the second most common endocrine disorder (after diabetes) affecting women of reproductive age.1
Two forms of thyroid pathology can be distinguished. The first is abnormal thyroid function, with or without clinically apparent changes in thyroid volume such as goitre or noduli. The second deals with changes in thyroid volume without abnormal thyroid function. Thyroid dysfunction is usually an expression of an autoimmune disorder. Thyroid dysfunction may lead to clinically apparent signs and symptoms but it may also remain subclinical, with the diagnosis based only on abnormal thyroid function tests. Untreated overt as well as subclinical thyroid disorders in women are associated with medical complications and impaired fertility. The physiological changes of pregnancy affect maternal thyroid function and the interpretation of results of thyroid function tests when pregnancy occurs in a woman with thyroid disease or when the thyroid problem develops during gestation. Conversely, thyroid diseases and their management may affect the course of pregnancy, the developing foetus, and the neonate. Diagnosis, counselling and successful management of pregnant women with thyroid disease requires an understanding of the potential effects on the mother and foetus, and their pathophysiological background and management.
