Gestational thyroid reference intervals in antibody-negative Chinese women.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to establish gestation-specific reference intervals (GRIs) for thyroid function assays in pregnant Chinese women with ARCHITECT and compare them to other GRI studies.

DESIGN AND METHOD

Thyroid antibody negative pregnant Chinese women were enrolled and followed to establish GRIs for thyroid function by use of the Abbott ARCHITECT i2000SR analyzer (N=1409). Samples from 360 non-pregnant Chinese women served as controls.

RESULTS

GRIs of thyroid-stimulating hormone, free thyroxine and free triiodothyronine for first trimester pregnancies were 0.16-3.78mIU/L, 10.9-17.7pmol/L and 2.9-5.0pmol/L, respectively. GRIs for second trimester pregnancies were 0.34-3.51mIU/L, 9.3-15.2pmol/L and 2.9-4.6pmol/L. GRIs for third trimester pregnancies were 0.34-4.32mIU/L, 7.9-14.1pmol/L and 2.9-4.5pmol/L.

CONCLUSIONS

Our thyroid GRIs were different from those in other Chinese studies generated on other analyzers, but were similar to a Swiss study using the same analyzer. These data should prove useful for the interpretation of thyroid function assays among pregnant women measured on the Abbott analyzer.