Israeli scientists say that women with persistent thyroid hormone imbalance during their pregnancy may be at an increased risk of having children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Their new peer-reviewed study tracked thyroid levels in more than 51,000 pregnant women. The study found that children of women with long-lasting, untreated thyroid hormone imbalance during pregnancy had about two to three cases of autism per 100 children, compared with about one case per 100 in the general population.

“Women who had a chronic thyroid condition that went untreated and got worse during pregnancy had a greater risk of having children with autism than pregnant women who were adequately treated,” Prof. Idan Menashe of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the study’s lead author, said in a phone call.

However, the scientists found that when a pregnant woman’s chronic thyroid dysfunction was “adequately treated,” there was no association with increased autism risk in her offspring, said Menashe, who is head of Ben-Gurion’s Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Community Health Sciences, and the scientific director of the Azrieli National Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research.

Ben-Gurion researcher Leena Elbedour, May Weinberg of the Meir Medical Center and Tel Aviv University, Analya Michaelovski of Soroka University Medical Center, and Prof. Gal Meiri, also of Soroka University and Ben-Gurion University, collaborated on the study, which recently appeared in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland at the front of the neck.

Thyroid hormones regulate the body’s metabolism, which is how the body uses and manages energy. These hormones also play a crucial role in essential processes such as heart rate regulation and the body’s muscle........

© The Times of Israel