Table 4.
Child’s parent-reported sensory development, grouped by maternal thyroid function during early pregnancy.
| Maternal thyroid function group |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child’s sensory outcome | Euthyroid (n = 4,831) | Hypothyroid (n = 365) | Hypothyroxinemic (n = 71) | Hyperthyroid (n = 124) | Total (n = 5,391) |
| Vision | |||||
| Squint | 152/3,564 (4.3%) | 16/282 (5.7%) | 4/60 (6.7%) | 2/79 (2.5%) | 174/3,985 (4.3%) |
| Refractive error | 135/3,564 (3.8%) | 14/282 (5.0%) | 4/60 (6.7%) | 3/79 (3.8%) | 156/3,985 (3.9%) |
| Other | 20/3,564 (0.6%) | 4/282 (1.4%) | 1/60 (1.7%) | 1/79 (1.3%) | 26/3,985 (0.7%) |
| Any vision defect | 233/3,564 (6.5%) | 25/282 (10.8%) | 7/60 (11.7%) | 4/79 (5.1%) | 269/3,985 (6.7%) |
| Speech | |||||
| Is your child’s way of speech normal | 385/4,529 (8.5%) | 24/345 (7.0%) | 8/64 (12.5%) | 10/116 (8.6%) | 427/5,054 (8.4%) |
| Delayed development of speech or dysphasia | 102/4,317 (2.4%) | 7/331 (2.1%) | 1/59 (1.7%) | 1/113 (0.9%) | 111/4,820 (2.3%) |
| Other | 212/4,311 (4.9%) | 10/330 (3.0%) | 4/59 (6.8%) | 7/113 (6.2%) | 233/4,813 (4.8%) |
| Needed speech therapy, under 4 years old | 110/4,294 (2.6%) | 6/329 (1.8%) | 1/59 (1.7%) | 0/113 | 117/4,795 (2.4%) |
| Any speech deficit | 477/4,538 (10.5%) | 30/345 (8.7%) | 9/64 (14.1%) | 10/116 (8.6%) | 526/5,063 (10.3%) |
| Hearing | |||||
| Lowered hearing ability | 87/4,527 (1.9%) | 4/345 (1.2%) | 1/64 (1.6%) | 2/116 (1.7%) | 94/5,052 (1.8%) |
| Examined for abnormal hearing | 92/2,698 (3.4%) | 12/217 (5.5%) | 0/64 | 3/56 (5.4%) | 107/3,035 (3.5%) |
| Abnormal hearing in either ear | 120/4,831 (2.5%) | 10/365 (2.7%) | 1/71 (1.4%) | 2/124 (1.6%) | 133/5,391 (2.5%) |
| Any hearing deficit | 252/4,831 (5.2%) | 22/365 (6.0%) | 2/71 (2.8%) | 4/124 (3.2%) | 280/5,391 (5.2%) |
Children with maternal thyroid function data available and intelligence quotient >85 included in the analysis, total n = 5,391. Prevalence of abnormal questionnaire results in children of mothers with and without thyroid dysfunction (euthyroid group as reference group) was evaluated with a χ2 test. No statistically significant results were found.
Euthyroidism: maternal TSH and fT4 both within the reference intervals. Hypothyroidism: TSH above its upper limit with low or normal fT4 concentrations. Hyperthyroidism: TSH below its lower reference limit with high or normal fT4 concentrations. Hypothyroxinemia: TSH within the reference intervals with low fT4 concentrations.