Should Pregnant Women Have Their Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone Levels Checked? - Dr. Lazarus (VIDEO)

Dr. Lazarus:

Currently in the world there is no, almost no clinics that are doing routine screening for TSH in early pregnancy. We don’t know whether this is cost-effective and justifiable at the moment. We are waiting for future trials, prospective trials to confirm and sustain the strategy of screening for TSH. However, the current view is that a lot of women should have TSH screened for in early pregnancy. For example, women with a family history of thyroid disease or any other autoimmune disease and various other things, they should certainly be screened for TSH.

I personally believe that probably everybody should be screened for TSH, but there are implications of that in terms of cost and worry and so on. So I think it's better to wait for the results of these prospective trials.

About Dr. Lazarus, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.A.C.E.:
Dr. John Lazarus is a clinical professor of clinical endocrinology at Cardiff University at Cardiff School of Medicine in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom at the Centre for Endocrine and Diabetes Sciences. The Centre for Endocrine and Diabetes Sciences (CEDS) aims to undertake cutting edge laboratory-based and clinical research in the fields of endocrinology and diabetes.

View Dr. Lazarus Videos:
http://www.empowher.com/users/dr-john-lazarus

Visit Dr. Lazarus at Cardiff University

American Thyroid Association

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Tags

• Pregnancy
• Thyroid Hormones
• Pregnancy