The impact of thyroid abnormalities during pregnancy on subsequent neuropsychological development of the offspring: a meta-analysis

Objective: To investigate the relationship between specific thyroid abnormalities in women during pregnancy and the subsequent neuropsychological development of their offspring.

Methods: A systematic literature search of PubMed, Embase and Web of Science was conducted. Eligible studies were case-control or cohort study that explored this association with euthyroid thyroid abnormalities during pregnancy. The outcomes included intelligence scores and motor scores. Weighted mean differences (WMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and heterogeneity was assessed with Cochrane Q chi-square test and I² statistics. A fixed-effects or random-effects model was used to pool the estimates according to the heterogeneity among the included studies.

Results: Six studies, involving 4449 participants, were included. Children of women with thyroid abnormalities had mean intelligence score of 6.27 points and motor score of 5.99 points lower than that of children of euthyroid women. Subgroup analysis suggested that, children of women with hypothyroxinaemia, subclinical hypothyroidism and positive TPOAb had mean intelligence scores of 5.69 points, 8.76 points and 10.55 points, and mean motor scores of 4.19 points, 9.98 points and 9.03 points lower than those of the controls, respectively.

Conclusions: The thyroid abnormalities in pregnant women may adversely affect neuropsychological development of their offspring.