Does foetal gender influence maternal thyroid parameters in pregnancy?

ABSTRACT

Objective: It is unknown if foetal gender influences maternal thyroid function during pregnancy. We therefore investigated the prevalence of thyroid disorders and determined first-trimester TSH reference ranges according to gender. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 1663 women with an ongoing pregnancy was conducted. Twin and assisted pregnancies and l-thyroxine or antithyroid treatment before pregnancy were exclusion criteria. Serum TSH, free T4 (FT4) and thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) were measured at median (interquartile range; IQR) 13 (11-17) weeks of gestation. Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) was present when serum TSH levels were >3.74 mIU/L with normal FT4 levels (10.29-18.02 pmol/L), and thyroid autoimmunity (TAI) was present when TPOAb were ≥60 kIU/L. Results: Eight hundred and forty-seven women were pregnant with a female foetus (FF) and 816 with a male foetus (MF). In women without TAI and during the gestational age period between 9 and 13 weeks (with presumed high-serum hCG levels), median (IQR range) serum TSH in the FF group was lower than that in the MF group 1.13 (0.72-1.74) vs 1.24 (0.71-1.98) mIU/L; P = 0.021. First-trimester gender-specific TSH reference range was 0.03-3.53 mIU/L in the FF group and 0.03-3.89 mIU/L in the MF group. The prevalence of SCH and TAI was comparable between the FF and MF group 4.4% vs 5.4%; P = 0.345 and 4.9% vs 7.5%; P = 0.079, respectively. Conclusions: Women pregnant with an MF have slightly but significantly higher TSH levels and a higher upper limit of the first-trimester TSH reference range, compared with pregnancies with a FF. We hypothesise that this difference may be related to higher hCG levels in women pregnant with a FF, although we were unable to measure hCG in this study. Further studies are required to investigate if this difference has any clinical relevance.