Prevalence of gestational thyrotoxicosis in women with emesis during early pregnancy at Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

The study comprised of 72 pregnant women with emesis or hyperemesis gravidarum during the early pregnancy upto 16 weeks gestation. The main objective of the study was to determine the thyroid status of these women and to determine the prevalence of gestational transient thyrotoxicosis at Kenyatta National Hospital. The serum levels ofFT3, FT4, TSH, and p-HCG were determined using the micro-particle enzyme immunoassay technique. Theprevalence of gestational transient thyrotoxicosis was found to be 8.3%. Majority of the women studied were at a gestation of 8 to 11 weeks (38.9%). Fatigue was the commonest medical symptom among those studied (72.2%). A high proportion of the study subjects (63.9%) also reported weight loss or absence of weight gain during the current pregnancy. Most of the patients studied (84.7%) had moderate vomiting (1 to 5 episodes of vomiting per day). Only 15.3% had more than five episodes of vomiting per day. There was a gradual increase in PHCG to a peak at 12- 15 weeks gestation followed by a decline. Free T3 and FT4 levels in majority of the patients studied (90.3%) were within the normal range. Nineteen (26.4%) patients had low TSH levels and one patient (1.4%) had high TSH values. There was a significant positive correlation between p-HCG levels and FT4IFT3 (P values < 0.05 respectively). There was a significant negative correlation between p-HCG and the TSH levels (p value < 0.05). The correlation between the severity of vomiting and the levels ofFT3, FT4, TSH and p-HCG was not significant (p value> 0.05 for all).