| ObjectivePostpartum thyroiditis (PPT) is one of common disorders happen in pregnantwomen. It is a special type of autoimmune thyroiditis. Recent studies have shown thatPPT is actually a latent autoimmune thyroiditis, which is able to show overt diseasemanifestations when being triggered by pregnancy and delivery. PPT may cause harmto mothers, and it may have side effects on descendants as well. The present studyaimed to investigate the impact of PPT on descendant's intelligence quotient (IQ) bycomparing the IQs of PPT descendants and those of normal controls.MethodsThe present study was performed as a continuous prospective study following theformer epidemiological survey on PPT from 2002 to 2004. In that survey, according tothe diagnostic criteria for PPT (i.e. no personal history of thyroid disorders; euthyroidwhen being enrolled in the cohort; occurring abnormal TSH within six months afterdelivery; negative TSH receptor antibody), a total of 58 patients were diagnosed as PPT.The descendants were followed up and their IQs were evaluated by C-WYCSI at age 4to 4.5. The C-WYCSI evaluation consists of two parts, eleven sub-tests. Finally 38 ofthe 58 PPT patients (65.5%) were successfully followed and defined as experimentalgroup. Forty normal women's descendants were selected as control group, matching bymothers' age, economic status and education conditions, etc. IQ evaluations were donefollowing a double-blind role. SPSS software was used to do statistical analysis and Pvalue＜0.05 was considered as having significant difference.ResultsThe average age of experimental group was 4.26±0.12, the ratio of male to female was 1.11: 1; the average age and gender ratio in control group were 4.26±0.11 and 1.11: 1, respectively. Family income, parents' education status and mother'sage at delivery were similar in experimental group as those in control group. IQ scoresof these two groups were in normal distributions. The average scores of 11 subtests inexperimental group were 0.7-2.1 lower than those in control group. All the scale scoresof control group, except those of picture arrangement subtest and geometry subtest,were significantly higher than those of experimental group (P=0.000-0.031). Theaverage verbal IQ of experimental group was 8 scores lower than that of control group(105.3±8.8 vs 113.4±9.0,P=0.000) while the average performance IQ was 10 scoreslower (VA: 101.8±10.2 vs 111.5±9.9, GD: 105.6±11.0 vs 115.3±10.1, P=0.000), fullscale IQ was 9 scores lower as well (VA: 104.0±9.5 vs 113.6±9.0, GD: 106.04±9.8 vs115.84±9.4, P=0.000). Neither in experimental group nor in control group were therechildren with intelligence defects. However, one child in experimental group was foundto have a borderline defect. The percentage of children with super-normal IQ in thecontrol group was significantly higher than that in the experimental group(P=0.0011-0.0026), while the percentage of children with normal IQ in the controlgroup was significantly lower than that in the experimental group (P=0.011-0.0032).ConclusionsCompared to descendants of healthy women, IQ scores of PPT patients'descendants were significantly lower than those of normal women's. The averageverbal IQ, average performance IQ and full scale IQ were 8, 10 and 9 scores lower thanthose of control group, respectively, which indicates PPT may play a negative role indescendant's IQ development. |
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