Reference Ranges and Determinants of Thyroid Function and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) Receptor Antibodies During Early Pregnancy in Nepal
Authors' conclusion
We found meaningful changes using population-based pregnancy-specific TSH and fT4 reference intervals and encourage further studies in other low- and middle-income settings. Our findings suggest that population screening for TRAb is not clinically meaningful.
Study context
- Population
- Healthy pregnant women aged 20–40 years, Bhaktapur municipality, Nepal; early pregnancy (median gestational age 11 weeks)
- Participants
- 800 women
- Exposure
- Population-based pregnancy-specific reference ranges vs current non-pregnancy reference ranges
- Outcome
- Population-based pregnancy-specific reference ranges (2.5th–97.5th percentiles) for TSH and fT4
- Follow-up
- Early pregnancy
Methodological detailspopulation-based
- Population-based
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Reference intervals after excluding TPOAb-positive women
TSH reference interval
0.05-3.69 µLU/mL
Free tetraiodothyronine (fT4) reference interval
8.89-15.28 pg/mL
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Women requiring treatment, new vs current non-pregnancy reference ranges
- Women requiring treatment increased from 5 to 12
- 0.9% increase
TSH receptor antibody (TRAb) positivity
- TRAb-positive women
- 19 (2.4%)
- No determinants of TRAb positivity identified; TRAb positivity not associated with TSH or fT4 levels
Original publication
Reference Ranges and Determinants of Thyroid Function and TSH Receptor Antibodies During Early Pregnancy in Nepal. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). Published 16 December 2024. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →