Concept and management of postpartum thyroid dysfunction
Amino, N.; Ide, A.; Tamai, H.
Nihon Rinsho. Japanese Journal of Clinical Medicine 70(11): 1983-1987
2012
ISSN/ISBN: 0047-1852 PMID: 23214072 Document Number: 656935
Postpartum thyroid dysfunction is found in 5-10% of women within one year after delivery. Dysfunction is developed from subclinical autoimmune thyroiditis through immune rebound mechanism and divided into 5 types. Most frequent one is destructive thyrotoxicosis, named as postpartum thyroiditis, which occur in early postpartum period and usually followed by transient hypothyroidism. Some of them progress into permanent hypothyroidism. Graves' disease is also developed mainly after 4 months postpartum and found in one out of 200 postpartum women in general population. Treatment of this dysfunction is principally the same as ordinal thyroid disease except for transient hypothyroidism.