Maternal Thyroid Dysfunction During Pregnancy as an Etiologic Factor in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Challenges and Opportunities for Research

CONCLUSIONS: Overall, evidence supported a positive association between maternal thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy and ASD outcomes in the child, especially for hypothyroidism. Future studies could reduce misclassification bias by using laboratory measures instead of medical records to ascertain thyroid dysfunction and evaluating children for ASD at an age when it can be reliably detected. Survival bias could be further mitigated by adjusting models for more factors associated with fetal survival and ASD. Additional research is needed to comprehensively understand the roles of maternal levothyroxine treatment, iodine deficiency or exposure to thyroid-disrupting compounds in the relationship between maternal thyroid dysfunction and child ASD outcomes.PMID:38149625 | DOI:10.1089/thy.2023.0391
Source: Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association - Category: Endocrinology Authors: Source Type: research