Thyroid Dysfunction and Autoantibodies during Preg

[caryn]

Thyroid dysfunction and antibodies were not associated with pregnancy complications. Overt hypothyroidism was associated with subsequent maternal thyroid disease [hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval), 17.7 (7.8-40.6)] and diabetes [6.0 (2.2-16.4)]. Subclinical hypothyroidism [3.3 (1.6-6.9)], TPO-Ab-positivity [4.2 (2.3-7.4)], and TG-Ab-positivity [3.3 (1.9-6.0)] were also associated with later thyroid disease. No association was found between thyroid dysfunction/antibodies and hypertension or overall mortality...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20080846

This one says, actually, thyroid problems in pregnancy are only predictive of later thyroid problems. So here's more of that correlation/causation problem -- is it that there's subclinical thyroid problems in more PE patients but that it isn't predictive of PE, or what?

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[ozierja]

Boy it sounds like PE unmasks a whole bunch of predispositions for diseases, HTN, cardiac, Thyroid, Autoimmune...what else... my undiagnosed acquired (non-autoimmune at this point)hemophilia...geez!

[caryn]

I suspect that we're talking flipped switches all over the place, you know?

At this point I kind of doubt that we can really pin gestational hypertension on autoimmune disease. More likely both conditions rest on underlying genetic mutations that are normal for humans and that have to do with the arms race of head-through-pelvis. So an autoimmune disease might unmask your risk, but not cause it -- given that so many women with autoimmune diseases don't have problems, this just seems sensible to me -- and same thing with obesity or whatever.

It's just a thing humans have happen. *sigh*

[ozierja]

Yeah I think the thing with autoimmune is just as you said many have some sort of varying levels of different types (RA, ANA, Lupus, etc.) but no real problems to warrant further investigation...so it goes along under the radar with minimal levels of the things we know to test for...until one day BAM:) I've had up and down RA levels and up and down TSH levels but never to any "diagnostic" point...what do you do with that except wait...*big sigh*