Association of thyroid disorders in females with primary infertility attending a tertiary-care hospital in northeast India

Abstract

Background: A close interconnection is present between hypothyroidism and hyperprolactinemia. Failure to ovulate regularly in women of the reproductive age group may occur owing to hypothyroidism. Objective: To look for thyroid disorders among the primary infertile group of female patients and to see the association of serum prolactin level and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level, if any. Materials and Methods: In this study, we investigated 53 diagnosed female subjects of primary infertility who were sent to the Department of Biochemistry for hormonal investigation. Fifty-three fertile age-matched females were enrolled for the study as control subjects. Serum prolactin and the TSH levels were measured by using chemiluminiscence method (Access 2, Beckman Coulter). Result: Significantly higher prolactin and TSH levels were found among cases when compared with control subjects. A positive association was found between TSH and prolactin levels among the primary infertile female subjects. Conclusion: This study showed significantly higher prolactin and TSH levels among the primary infertile female patients. Therefore, for proper management of infertile cases, it may be necessary to look for thyroid dysfunction and treat it accordingly.

Thyroid Disorders;

“…29 In this study, non-significant results of TSH, fT 4 and fT 3 were exhibited between the groups which may be because of the fact that majority of the participants exhibited the normal thyroid functions (i.e euthyroid state). Similar to our findings statistically non-significant results regarding thyroid dysfunction were also observed among fertile and infertile females 7,31 while statistically significant results of raised T 3 , T 4 32 and raised TSH level 4,21 were reported in primary infertile groups. In accordance to current study, statistically nonsignificance difference in terms of TSH between primary infertile and fertile groups was also compatible with the findings of Shalev et al and Buyru et al as cited by Sahin A and Onder F. 15 Significant positive correlation was observed between fT 3 and fT 4 (p=0.002, r = 0.330) 15 which was also similar to present findings in primary infertile females (p=0.000, r = 0.684).…”

“…Quantitative estimation of TSH, fT 4 and fT 3 levels was done by using chemiluminescent Microparticle Immunoassay (CMIA) technology (Abbott / ARCHITECT i1000SR) accompanying a flexible assay known as Chemiflex. 7,28 The commercial kits used in the laboratory of Madinah Teaching Hospital were 7K63 ARCHITECT for fT 3 , 7K65 ARCHITECT for fT 4 and 7K62 ARCHITECT for TSH estimation.…”

“…5 WHO (World Health Organization) has defined subfertility clinically as "Inability of a couple to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months (under 35 year of age) or within 6 months (above 35 year of age) of regular unprotected sexual intercourse". 6,7 Infertility is of two types: If a female is unable to conceive in spite of regular cohabitation then it is termed as primary infertility while secondary infertility is because of any factor in which if a female has conceived at least once but unable to pregnant again. 8 Several studies have confirmed that primary infertility is more prevalent globally.…”

Evaluation and Assessment of serum prolactin levels in Hypothyroidism

“…Nath el al. [10] found a positive correlation between serum TSH and prolactin level among the females subject in the northeast part of India kaur et al [2] in their research concluded that the serum prolactin level rises in relation to rising level of serum TSH in the patients suffering from hypothyroidism.…”

Frequency and pattern of thyroid dysfunction in diabetic and non-diabetic women with primary infertility: experience in a tertiary care hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh

“…Failure to ovulate regularly in women of the reproductive age group may occur owing to hypothyroidism. 8 Hyperprolactinemia badly affects the fertility possibility by ruining the pulsatile secretion of gonadotropin releasing hor-mone (GnRH), thereby interfering with ovulation. This is implicated in menstrual and ovulatory dysfunctions such as amenorrhea, oligomenorrhea, anovulation, inadequate corpus luteal phase, and galactorrhea.…”