A study of thyroid profile in cases of primary infertility attending a tertiary care hospital of south India

Abstract

Background: Infertility is a rising major problem affecting more than 50 million couples globally every year. Endocrine as well as immune system abnormalities can impair the fertility. Most of the studies globally indicated association of infertility with multiple factors like stress, luteal phase defects, structural and functional reproductive disturbances. Many infertile women with thyroid dysfunction had associated hyperprolactinemia with increases TSH in ovulatory dysfunction. The aim of the present study was to determine the association of hypo and hyperthyroidism with infertility among cases of primary infertility in women.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among the patients attending the infertility clinic for the first time. The study was approved by the institutional ethical committee and the study was carried as per the guidelines of the ethical committee. The serum levels of T3, T4 and TSH were estimated and Prolactin in cases where necessary by Chemiluminiscence immunoassay. The data was analyzed by using the unpaired “t” test. A ‘p’ value <0.05 was considered significant.Results: 285 cases were enrolled and majority (38.6%) was in 31-34 age groups with mean age of 24.2± 1.6 years. 30.53% were found with thyroid dysfunction. Majority (16.49%) were found with subclinical hypothyroid, followed in order by primary hypothyroid (9.82%), subclinical hyperthyroid (2.11%), primary hyperthyroid (1.05%), secondary hypothyroid (0.70%) and secondary hyperthyroid (0.35%).Conclusions: To conclude, thyroid dysfunction is a common cause of infertility and can be easily managed by correcting the levels of thyroid hormones. Present study suggests that thyroid replacement therapy in subclinical hypothyroidism at an early stage is justified in infertile women. Borderline variations in TSH levels should not be ignored in infertile women who are otherwise asymptomatic for subclinical hypothyroidism. Hence for better management of cases of primary infertility studies with large sample size and long term follow up are required to validate and justify the variation in TSH and prolactin levels.