[Postpartum thyroid gland dysfunction--a prospective study].

In a prospective study the postpartum thyroid function was investigated in 120 healthy women in the department of obstetrics and gynecology of the Medical School Hannover. A physical examination was performed in the first week after delivery and two to five and five to eleven months later. Additionally blood was drawn for the determination of thyroid hormones, thyroid autoantibodies and thyroid-stimulating hormone. In 10% of the patients pathological titers for thyroid microsomal autoantibodies and thyroglobulin autoantibodies were found, in 2.5% pathological concentrations of thyroid hormones. In none of these patients clinical symptoms of thyroid dysfunction could be found. After delivery a immunologically mediated thyroid disease should be considered in patients with clinical symptoms. Then the thyroid function needs to be investigated.