Pregnancy has a profound impact on the thyroid gland and thyroid function since the thyroid may encounter changes to hormones and size during pregnancy. The diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease during pregnancy and the postpartum is complex but knowledge regarding the interaction between the thyroid and pregnancy/the postpartum period is advancing at a rapid pace. Hormone Changes: A normal pregnancy results in a number of important physiological and hormonal changes that alter thyroid function. These changes mean that laboratory tests of thyroid function must be interpreted with caution during pregnancy. Thyroid function tests change during pregnancy due to the influence of two main hormones: human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), the hormone that is measured in the pregnancy test and estrogen, the main female hormone. HCG can weakly turn on the thyroid and the high circulating hCG levels in the first trimester may result in a slightly low TSH (called subclinical hyperthyroidism).
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Women's Health and Complications 