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Thyroid hormones play critical roles in fetal development and maternal health. Thyroid dysfunction can manifest in healthy women during pregnancy and be difficult to diagnose. However, despite increasing awareness of thyroid disease during pregnancy, rates of incidence and geographical patterns remain unclear.

Bakken et al. examined both the Medical Birth Registry of Norway and the Norwegian Prescription Database over a 14-year period (a total of 855,067 pregnancies). From these data cohorts, they revealed that use of thyroid replacement therapy increased from 1.45% in 2004 to 3.57% in 2018. Use of antithyroid therapy was lower, but increased more than twofold (0.10%) during this period.

This study highlights the value of historical patient datasets, as well as evidencing the increases in awareness of thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy.

Read the full article in Endocrine Connections 11 e210631