Thyroid Imbalance in Pregnancy Linked to Higher Autism Risk, Israeli Study Finds
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev say women whose thyroid hormones remain out of balance across much of pregnancy may face a higher chance of having a child later diagnosed with autism, based on a large population study released Sunday in Israel. The team reached its conclusions by tracking thyroid function over multiple trimesters and linking those patterns to diagnoses from more than 51,000 births.
The study, published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, focused on maternal thyroid hormones, which help guide the formation and wiring of the fetal brain, especially in early pregnancy before the fetus can produce its own hormones. Disruption in those levels has long been suspected as one factor that can affect neurodevelopment.
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Researchers reported that women with chronic thyroid disease whose hormone levels were kept within the normal range through medication did not see an increased autism risk. The concern arose when thyroid imbalance persisted over several trimesters, suggesting that the duration of exposure matters as much as the diagnosis itself.
Using health records, the team observed a dose-response pattern: the longer the hormonal imbalance stretched across pregnancy, the higher the odds that a child would later be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in social communication and behavior, with diagnoses rising worldwide over the past two decades.
The researchers urged regular monitoring of thyroid function before and during pregnancy and timely adjustment of treatment to keep hormone levels stable, arguing that such care is a relatively straightforward way to reduce one potential, avoidable risk factor in a complex condition with many causes.
