The relationship between maternal thyroid volume, TSH levels, and Healthy Eating Index scores in BMI-matched pregnant women with hyperemesis gravidarum

Abstract

Objective

The aim is to investigate the relationship between thyroid volume measurement and healthy nutrition questionnaire scoring in pregnant women diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (HEG).

Methods

One hundred and fifty pregnant women with a BMI of 15–25 kg/m² and between the ages of 17 and 42 who were diagnosed with HEG at 11–14 weeks of gestation were included in the study. Patients with a history of any disease, drug use, and previously diagnosed eating disorders were excluded. All patients were subjected to the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) questionnaire. The cutoff value for HEI score was determined as 80 points. Patients were evaluated in two groups: group 1 (HEI <80 score) and group 2 (HEI ≥80 score). Complete urine analysis including ketonuria, and thyroid function tests including TSH, T3, and T4 levels were performed for all patients. In addition, the thyroid gland volume of every patient was measured by the same radiologist.

Results

Increased thyroid gland volume was significantly associated with lower TSH levels (p = .02) and lower HEI scores (p < .001). On the other hand, it was not significantly associated with ketonuria (p = .47), and parity status (p = .82).

Conclusions

In our study, we found that there may be an increase in thyroid volume in pregnant women with HEG with lower TSH levels and eating scores. Thyroid volume may predict the patients with probable eating disorders and further studies on thyroid volume in patients with HEG may contribute to the literature.

Keywords:

• Healthy Eating Index
• hyperemesis gravidarum
• malnutrition
• thyroid gland volume
• throid stimulating horomen

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our dietician Gülistan Körsu for her efforts in the study.

Author contributions

Study design: EO and OA; preparation: EO, OA, LT, EG and HA; literature review: EO, EG, HA and FK; statistics: EO, EG and OA; methods: EO, OA, LT, HA and FK; writing: EO, OA and LT; planning: EO, EG, LT, HA and MC; implementation: EO, OA, LT and MC; supervising: EO, EG and FK.

Ethics statement

The study was approved by the local hospital ethics committee (document number 2020-6). Clinical Trial Number NCT04528186 (USA).

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.