Maternal thyroid disease: a risk factor for newborn encephalopathy in terminfants

Two previously published studies of term newborn encephalopathy showed that maternal thyroid disease to be a risk factor. From these studies we identi fied 13 case and three control mothers with thyroid disease and investigate d them further. The majority of affected case mothers had idiopathic or aut oimmune hypothyroidism. Compared with control mothers, case mothers had few er thyroid function tests in pregnancy, were mole likely to remain on the s ame dose of medication throughout pregnancy and to have experienced other p regnancy complications. The association between maternal thyroid disease an d encephalopathy may be the result of a series of different causal pathways , some of which are suggested by our data.