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| EMGARGOED FOR RELEASE Oct. 12, 2006, 2:15 p.m. PDT |
For more information, please contact the ATA at thyroid@thyroid.org. |
Treating Graves’ Disease During Pregnancy Is Safe For Unborn Child
(PHOENIX)—The optimal level of anti-thyroid drugs used in patients with Graves’ disease — an overactive thyroid — who are pregnant does not cause the unborn babies to have hypothyroidism, an underactive thyroid, according to a new study being presented on Thursday, Oct. 12, at the 77th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) in Phoenix.
“The ideal thyroid hormone levels for these patients was found to be on the higher end of normal, and therefore the optimal treatment may be less aggressive than previously thought,” said N. Momotani, MD, an ATA member and chief endocrinologist at the Tokyo Health Service Association in Japan.
In Graves’ disease — a type of hyperthyroidism — there is a generalized overactivity of the entire thyroid gland. Hyperthyroidism is a relatively common hormonal abnormality in which the patient’s thyroid hormone level is higher than normal, causing disturbances in metabolism. It is critical to the health of the unborn child that thyroid hormone levels for the mother are in the right range. There is an effective treatment for hyperthyroidism using anti-thyroid drugs, but this treatment in pregnant patients can be harmful to the developing fetus, primarily because it can cause a hypothyroidism.
It was known that a connection existed between the mother’s thyroid level and the newborns’ health; however, prior to this study, there was no solid data showing the correlation that doctors could refer to when considering treatment options. Until now, expensive and dangerous testing of the fetus was sometimes necessary in pregnant hyperthyroid patients. Furthermore, it was not known what thyroid levels would be optimal for both the mother and the unborn child.
The study involved 249 pregnant Graves’ disease patients who continued anti-thyroid drugs through delivery. Researchers compared the patients’ thyroid hormone levels with their babies’ levels at birth to determine the lowest anti-thyroid therapy to effectively treat these patients, while also avoiding fetal hypothyroidism. The findings show that infants are seldom born with hypothyroidism when maternal thyroid levels are in the upper limits of the normal range for nonpregnant women.
For more information on thyroid disease and pregnancy, visit www.thyroid.org.
The newest research in mechanisms, diagnosis, and clinical management of thyroid disease will be the focus of the ATA’s 77th Annual Meeting, Oct. 11–15, 2006, at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa in Phoenix. The meeting will bring together thyroid experts from the United States and around the world.
The ATA is the North American professional society for physicians and
researchers specializing in diseases of the thyroid gland. The ATA promotes
excellence and innovation in clinical care, research, education, and public
advocacy.
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