THYROID AUTOANTIBODIES IN EUTHYROID NONPREGNANT WOMEN WITH RECURRENT SPONTANEOUS-ABORTIONS

This study was undertaken to evaluate the incidence of thyroid autoant ibodies in women with a history of recurrent (three or more consecutiv e) spontaneous abortions, A total of 22 euthyroid non-pregnant habitua l aborters were analysed for thyreoglobulin and thyroid peroxidase ant ibodies; 22 nulligravidae and 22 multigravidae without endocrine dysfu nction served as controls, Both thyroid antibodies were assayed using highly sensitive, commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent a ssay kits, Eight of the 22 women with recurrent spontaneous abortions (36%) but only two of the 22 nulligravidae controls (9%; chi(2) test, P = 0.03) and one of 22 multigravidae subjects (5%; chi(2) test, P < 0 .01) demonstrated positive titres (>100 IU/ml, as recommended by the m anufacturer) of thyreoglobulin, thyroid peroxidase or both antibodies. The mean +/- SD antibody concentrations were 102.5 +/- 226.5 in the s tudy versus 20.9 +/- 68.8 in the nulligravidae (U-test, P = 0.057) and 26.4 +/- 60.2 IU/ml (P = 0.097) in the multigravidae population for t hyroid peroxidase, and 47.7 +/- 57.9 versus 24.1 +/- 31.9 (U-test, P = 0.051) and 28.1 +/- 27.9 IU/ml (P = 0.059) for thyreoglobulin, In con clusion, the incidence of thyroid antibodies in euthyroid women with h abitual abortions appears to be significantly increased compared with the controls of reproductive age without previous abortions, Although the important issue of cause and effect has not been fully clarified, this finding suggests that thyroid antibodies may be a marker for auto immune-mediated recurrent spontaneous abortions, not dissimilar to, fo r example, anticardiolipin.