Establishment of Trimester-Specific Reference Intervals for Thyroid Hormones in Korean Pregnant Women.
10.3343/alm.2015.35.2.198
- Author:
Hee Won MOON
1
;
Hee Jung CHUNG
;
Chul Min PARK
;
Mina HUR
;
Yeo Min YUN
Author Information
1. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. ymyun@kuh.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Keywords:
TSH;
FT4;
Reference interval;
Korean;
Pregnancy;
Trimester
- MeSH:
Adult;
Asian Continental Ancestry Group;
Case-Control Studies;
Female;
Humans;
*Immunoassay/standards;
Luminescent Measurements;
Pregnancy;
Pregnancy Trimesters;
Prenatal Care;
Reference Values;
Republic of Korea;
Thyroid Hormones/*analysis/standards;
Thyroxine/*analysis/standards
- From:Annals of Laboratory Medicine
2015;35(2):198-204
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Establishment of trimester- and assay-specific reference intervals for every population is recommended. The aim of this study was to establish a trimester- and assay-specific reference interval for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) in Korean pregnant women. METHODS: From April 2012 to December 2012, 531 pregnant women receiving prenatal care and 238 age-matched, non-pregnant women were enrolled in this study. After excluding patients with pregnancy-associated complications or thyroid-specific autoantibody, 465 pregnant and 206 non-pregnant women were included. Non-parametric analysis (2.5-97.5th percentile) was performed to determine the reference interval. Levels of TSH and FT4 were determined by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (Elecsys thyroid tests, Roche Diagnostics, Germany). RESULTS: The TSH reference intervals were 0.01-4.10, 0.01-4.26, and 0.15-4.57 mIU/L for the first, second, and third trimester, respectively. From the first trimester to the third trimester, the median TSH levels showed a significantly increasing trend (P<0.0001). The FT4 reference intervals were 0.83-1.65, 0.71-1.22, and 0.65-1.13 ng/dL for the first, second, and third trimester, respectively, showing a significantly decreasing trend (P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Establishing trimester-specific reference intervals in pregnant women is essential for accurate assessment of thyroid function. Our population-specific and method-specific reference intervals will be useful for screening Korean pregnant women for thyroid disease.
