Open Access

Maternal Hypothyroidism and Gastroschisis: The Case for Universal Maternal Thyroid Screening and Therapy in Early Pregnancy

Gavin Hughes, Shiliang Liu, Fengyu Zhang, and Claude Hughes

August 15, 2023

DOI:10.36316/gcatr.05.0049

Abstract

Maternal hypothyroidism has long been known to cause adverse effects on fetal and neonatal neurobehavioral development, and thus, thyroid function testing of at-risk pregnant women is commonplace. However, universal thyroid function screening has not been globally implemented primarily due to uncertainty about the embryo-fetal developmental effects of maternal subclinical hypothyroidism. In a recent Canadian population-based research study, hypothyroidism was associated with gastroschisis, a relatively rare but severe defect with midgut prolapse into the amniotic cavity in newborns. Given this new data, the substantial humanistic and financial cost associated with gastroschisis, and the relatively minor cost of thyroid function testing, we argue that the obstetrical standard of care should be updated to include universal screening with thyroid function testing of all women as early in pregnancy as possible.

Keywords

Gastroschisis, hypothyroidism in pregnancy, thyroid screening in pregnancy

Copyright© 2023 by the author(s). Licensee Global Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Inc., Bethesda, MD. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCBY4.0, https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite this article.Hughes G, Liu S, Zhang F, Hughes C. Maternal Hypothyroidism and Gastroschisis: The Case for Universal Maternal Thyroid Screening and Therapy in Early Pregnancy. Glob Clin Transl Res. 2023; 5(2): 16-22. DOI:10.36316/gcatr.05.0049.

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