Women with Autoimmune Thyroiditis have Lower Reproductive Life Span or Not? A Cross- Sectional Study.
Alamtaj Samsami, Leila Ghasmpour, Shaghayegh Moradi Alamdarloo and 4 others
PMID 33178853WHAT IT FOUND
Infertile women with thyroid antibodies had fewer antral follicles and lower AMH than women without the antibody (49 each), especially at age 35 and older.
The study shows an association, not that thyroiditis caused the lower ovarian reserve markers.
Key findings
01Anti-TPO-positive infertile women had lower mean AMH (1.98±2.38 vs 2.94±2.22 ng/mL) and lower mean antral follicle count (10.61±7.29 vs 16.46±6.38) than anti-TPO-negative women.
02In women aged 35 or older, anti-TPO-positive women had lower AMH (1.51±1.58 vs 2.81±1.98) and lower AFC (8.72±7.19 vs 14.40±6.93); in women younger than 35, AFC was lower (12.14±7.13 vs 17.38±6.01).
03FSH did not differ significantly (7.52±6.34 vs 6.08±2.59 mIU/mL, P=0.14).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The women were recruited from an infertility center and all had infertility, so the results may not apply to women without infertility. Only 98 women were analysed, and the age subgroup sample sizes were smaller, so chance findings are possible. All participants had TSH above 3 mIU/L, so the study may not apply to women with normal TSH. The outcomes were ovarian reserve markers, not live birth or future pregnancy, so lower reproductive life span was not directly measured. The design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that anti-TPO antibodies caused lower AMH or AFC. AFC is operator-dependent, and the text does not describe blinding of ultrasound or laboratory assessment. The groups were compared with t-tests, and no adjusted analysis is reported.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that autoimmune thyroiditis causes lower reproductive life span. The study measured ovarian reserve markers in infertile women, not pregnancy or live birth, and cannot show cause.