Low Thyroid Levels May Up Need for Assisted Delivery

[Guest guest]

Interesting article! What can we do for maternal thyroid level health with

Ayurveda? Certainly, attending to healthy agni is a good place to start. Is

shilajit appropriate for use in third trimester? Seaweeds high in iodine such

as kelp also indicated, along with digestive seasonings, and ashwagandha

apparently very supportive, how in this case I don't understand though it's

value I've seen many times for pregnant women. Ysha

 

reposted from News MONDAY, Dec. 28, 09 (HealthDay News)

 

Low levels of a thyroid hormone in healthy pregnant women shortly before

childbirth may be linked with fetal position problems that could require special

care during delivery, new research finds.

 

" The link between thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy and difficulties during

labor is well established, " the lead author of the new study, Victor Pop, a

research professor at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, said in a

news release from the Society for Endocrinology. " However, to our knowledge,

this is the first study to show an association between maternal thyroid hormone

concentration during late gestation and fetal head position in healthy pregnant

women with normal thyroid function. "

 

At issue is whether thyroid hormone levels late in pregnancy are related to

births in which the head of the baby is not in the normal delivery position,

which is directed downward with the baby facing the mother's back at the start

of labor. Other positions, including those in which the baby is facing the

mother's belly, are considered abnormal delivery positions, the researchers

explained.

 

The study looked at the thyroid levels of 960 healthy pregnant Dutch women and

followed-up on their deliveries. The findings were published online Dec. 23 in

Clinical Endocrinology.

 

Women with significantly higher levels of a specific thyroid hormone, called T4,

at 36 weeks of pregnancy were more likely to present with a fetus in the normal

delivery position, the study found. But women with lower levels of T4 at 36

weeks of gestation were more likely to need assisted delivery because of an

abnormal fetal head position, it found.

 

" We believe that the relationship between thyroid hormone levels and fetal

presentation at birth may be explained by recent findings that motor development

in children is related to low maternal thyroid hormone concentration during

pregnancy, " Pop said. " It follows that impaired maternal thyroid function could

also influence fetal motility and, therefore, rotation of the fetus during

labor. "

 

Further study is needed, he said, " to examine the relationship between maternal

thyroid function and fetal presentation at birth in more detail. "

 

More information

 

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more about the thyroid and pregnancy.