‘Make thyroid screening universal’

Sunita Mehra, a 31-year-old, was seven months pregnant when she suddenly started having abdominal pain. She was immediately rushed to a hospital but it was too late. She started bleeding in the ambulance on the way to hospital and faced a miscarriage. After medical investigation, it was discovered that her thyroid level was below normal level which led to the complications.

Like Sunita, 11 to 25 per cent of pregnant women have hypothyroidism that can lead to maternal complications such as miscarriage and postpartum bleeding. This was revealed in a joint white paper released by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Frost & Sullivan.

“Our study has revealed that the reversibility of the damage to the foetus and the woman, from thyroid disorders, is up to 90 per cent but it can be reduced to 20 per cent with early treatment,” the white paper stated.

The experts also stated that congenital hypothyroidism — inadequate thyroid hormone production in newborn infants was also prevalent in India. “In India, one out of 800 neonates suffer from hypothyroidism as against a global average of one in 3,800 neonates,” it further stated.

Stressing the need to address the issues, FICCI along with Frost and Sullivan have released a white paper on Thursday highlighting the need to make universal thyroid screening mandatory and ensuring flu vaccinations for all pregnant women.

The prevalence of thyroid screening ranges between 5-10 per cent in government hospitals and 20-25 per cent in private hospitals.

However, doctors from the government hospitals refuted the claims. Dr Paras Kothari, paediatrician from Sion Hospital said that such cases are rare in India, and happens only in one out of 10,000 cases. “These cases are mostly common in hilly areas. As its occurrence is rare, we don’t ask all pregnant women to opt for the thyroid test. It is not prevalent as claimed by the white paper,” he said.

However, talking to The Asian Age, Dr Reena Wani, chairperson of The Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India, Perinatology Committee said, “In foreign countries, it happens only among two per cent of the pregnant women but in India due to endemic thyroid problem, it is three to five times higher.”