comparison of pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women with positive and negative anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody

Background & objective: thyroid-related adverse pregnancy outcomes can be analyzed by anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti-tpo ab). however, whether women with anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti- tpo ab) positivity have a higher risk of poor pregnancy outcomes is debatable. the aim of the present study was to compare the pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women with positive and negative tpo-ab. materials & methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted on pregnant women with positive anti-tpo ab (n= 108) and negative anti-tpo ab (n=340) referring to imam khomeini hospital and ahvaz clinics from january 2020 to december 2020. the pregnancy outcomes, including gestational diabetes mellitus (gdm), preeclampsia, miscarriage, preterm birth, placental abruption, iufd, iugr, and tsh level, were compared between the two groups by spss software using student t-test and chi-square test. results: the mean tsh level was significantly different in women with negative tpo-ab than those with positive tpo-ab (mean (sd): 2.25(1.47) vs. 4.82(9.38), p<0.0001). in addition, 81 (75.00%) women in the positive anti-tpo group and 104 (30.58%) in the negative anti-tpo group had high tsh (p<0.001). the frequency of gdm in positive anti-tpo ab pregnant women was significantly higher than that in the negative anti-tpo ab group (46.29% vs. 34.11%, p=0.029). the results also indicated an enhancement in the rate of miscarriage (15.74% vs. 4.11%, p<0.001) and preterm parturition (13.88% vs. 3.52%, p<0.001) in positive anti-tpo ab women. conclusion: presence of positive anti-tpo ab was significantly associated with preterm delivery, abortion and gdm in pregnancy. treatment with levothyroxine can reduce the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in women who are positive for tpoab.