Study of correlation of thyroid profile and clinical parameters in patients with infertility

Abstract

Background: Human infertility is a complex global health problem. It can be divided into two broad categories – primary and secondary infertility. Approximately 60-80 million couples suffer from infertility, out of which 15-20 million belong to India. Thyroid dysfunction has a great impact on fertility in women. The present study was carried out to correlate thyroid hormones with infertility in the reproductive age group of women.

Methods: A total of 100 subjects in which 50 infertile women as cases and 50 age matched euthyroid fertile women as controls included in the study. Serum levels of Tetraiodothyronine (T4), Triiodothyronine (T3), and Thyroid stimulation hormone (TSH) were measured by Chemilumeniscence Immunoassay (CLIA). Analysis of variance and Pearson’s correlation were used to analyze the data, with the significant p-level set at 0.05.

Results: Most of the infertile women were having thyroid dysfunction, out of which 20% were subclinical hyperthyroidism, 6% overt hyperthyroidism, 12% subclinical hypothyroidism and 4% were overt hypothyroidism. Mean serum T3 and T4 were significantly increased (p<0.001) while TSH levels were significantly decreased (p<0.01) in hyperthyroid and reverse was happened in hypothyroid cases when compared to controls.

Conclusions: Every infertile woman with ovulatory dysfunction should also investigated thyroid profile along with other investigations, to open better prospects for such desperate infertile women.