FREQUENCY OF THYROID DISORDERS IN OBSTETRIC PATIENTS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY FROM LAHORE

Abstract

Objective: Find out the frequency of thyroid disorders in pregnant women, and to analyze the relationship between these disorders and the selected maternal characteristics.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Arif Memorial Teaching Hospital, Lahore, from January to June 2025.

Methodology: The study included 240 pregnant women with singleton pregnancies between 8–28 weeks of gestation, who were selected through non-probability consecutive sampling. Along with demographic variables, clinical variables like age, parity, gestational age, and body mass index were recorded. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 25. Continuous variables  were summarized as means and standard deviations and categorical variables were presented as frequency and percentages. The chi-square test was used to evaluate the association between the presence of thyroid dysfunction and maternal characteristics with p ≤0.05 regarded as statistically significant.

Results: Out of total participants, thyroid dysfunction was detected in 55 individuals (22.9%). Among them, 40 women's cases (17%) were of hypothyroidism and 15 (6%) of hyperthyroidism. The correlation between thyroid dysfunction and body mass index was very strong (p=0.001) with the highest occurrence of the body mass index ≥30 kg/m². Maternal age (p=0.316), parity (p=0.976), and trimester of pregnancy (p=0.868) were not among the factors affecting thyroid dysfunction.

Conclusion: The population of pregnant women in this study area has a high prevalence of thyroid disorders, especially hypothyroidism, and the disorders are closely related to the body mass index.