THYROID DYSFUNCTION IN PREGNANCY: COMPARISON OF OUTCOMES IN INFANTS

The aim of this study was to compare the incidence of mild psychomotor delay in infants whose mothers were treated for thyroid dysfunction regardless of the cause during first trimester of pregnancy with those whose mothers did not use medications prenatally. The sample included 200 infants up to 4 months of age. Half of the infants were examined by a pediatric physiatrist, while the other half were chosen randomly from the primary pediatric clinic. Binary logistic regression was performed to assess the impact of factors on psychomotor delay. The model contained seven independent variables derived from bivariate analyses and clinical relevance. Results showed that the infant’s chance of having psychomotor delay was 5.53 times higher if the mother had drug-compensated thyroid dysfunction. Younger gestational age increased the likelihood of delay 2.12 times per each gestational week. The likelihood of psychomotor delay also rose by 1% per 1 g of birth weight reduction. We found strong positive linear correlation between maternal drug-compensated thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy and psychomotor delay in infants, which has not been reported elsewhere. This differentiates an important and common prenatal risk factor and lays the foundation for faster initiation of habilitation of infants at risk. These insights provide a basis for planning the National Screening Program for Neurorisk Infants.