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The Joint Role of Iodine Status and Thyroid Function on Risk for Preeclampsia in Finnish Women: a Population-Based Nested Case-Control Study

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Abstract

Preeclampsia, a pregnancy disorder that includes hypertension and proteinuria, is a major cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Some studies, but not all, have found that women with preeclampsia have significantly lower iodine levels than healthy pregnant women. Resolving this issue is important because iodine deficiency in pregnancy is common in the USA and parts of Europe including Finland. We conducted a nested case-control study to determine whether the risk for preeclampsia is associated with iodine status. We measured serum iodine, thyroglobulin (Tg), and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) at 10–14 weeks gestational age in 204 women with preeclampsia and 246 unaffected controls selected from all births in Finland. We found no significant difference in iodine (case mean = 26.04 ng/mL, control mean = 27.88 ng/mL, p = 0.995), Tg (case mean = 31.11 ng/mL, control mean = 29.61 ng/mL, p = 0.996), and TSH (case mean = 1.30 mIU/L, control mean = 1.24 mIU/L, p = 0.896) levels between cases and controls. There was no significant relationship between preeclampsia risk and iodine, Tg, or TSH after adjustment for known risk factors. These results are reassuring given the high prevalence of iodine deficiency in pregnancy.

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Data Availability

Data not available; use is restricted by Finnish governmental regulations.

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Funding

This research was funded by the Office of Dietary Supplements of the National Institute of Health, U.S.A. (contracts #HHSN2752011000011 and HHSN27500009), the Finnish Medical Association of Clinical Chemistry, and the Intramural Research Program of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Elijah C. Reische, Alexandra Purdue-Smithe & James L. Mills

  2. Northern Finland Laboratory Center NordLab, Oulu University Hospital, 90120, Oulu, Finland

    Tuija Männistö & Eila Suvanto

  3. Department of Pediatrics and Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Kurunthachalam Kannan

  4. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA

    Un-Jung Kim

  5. Biobank Borealis of Northern Finland, Oulu University Hospital, 90120, Oulu, Finland

    Heljä-Marja Surcel

  6. Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, 90120, Oulu, Finland

    Heljä-Marja Surcel

  7. Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare, 00290, Helsinki, Finland

    Mika Gissler

  8. Karolinska Institute, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden

    Mika Gissler

Authors
  1. Elijah C. Reische
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  2. Tuija Männistö
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  3. Alexandra Purdue-Smithe
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  4. Kurunthachalam Kannan
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  5. Un-Jung Kim
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  6. Eila Suvanto
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  7. Heljä-Marja Surcel
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  8. Mika Gissler
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  9. James L. Mills
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Contributions

J.L.M. and T.M. designed the research. T.M., E.S., H.-M.S., M.G., K.K., and U.-J.K. conducted the research. T.M., A.C.P.-S., E.C.R., and J.L.M. analyzed the data. E.C.R., J.L.M., and A.C.P.-S. wrote the paper. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James L. Mills.

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The authors declare that have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval

This study was approved by the steering committee of the FMC; the ethical review boards of the Northern Ostrobothnia Hospital District and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Oulu, Finland; and the Office of Human Subjects Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA (#13459).

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Reische, E.C., Männistö, T., Purdue-Smithe, A. et al. The Joint Role of Iodine Status and Thyroid Function on Risk for Preeclampsia in Finnish Women: a Population-Based Nested Case-Control Study. Biol Trace Elem Res 199, 2131–2137 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02341-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02341-2

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