Menstrual Irregularities and Thyroid: A Second Thought

ABSTRACT

Background and Objective: Thyroid disorders are implicated in a broad spectrum of reproductive disorders ranging from abnormal sexual development to menstrual irregularities, infertility, and premature menopause. Thyroid disorders are 10 times more common in women than men. Materials and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology endocrinology and surgery, at Father Muller Medical College Hospital, Mangalore, Karnataka. On 100 women in the age group of 15–45 years attending or admitted in the hospital during the period from September 2016 to August 2015, with suspected thyroid disorders with menstrual disturbances for a period of 18 months. Results and Observations The most common age group was 35–45 years with 49% of the study population. 42% were unmarried. Most of the patients presented to us <3 months of onset of symptoms 37%, 46% from 3 months to 6 months, and 3% patients had symptoms more than 2 years. In our study, population in menstrual irregularities had 32% subclinical hypothyroid, 48% hypothyroid, 20% hyperthyroid, respectively, there was significant association with thyroid hormone levels with Fisher’s exact test P = 0.020. Conclusion: Menstrual disturbances are one of the most common complaints of women for which biochemical estimation of thyroid hormones should be done subclinical hypothyroidism and hypothyroid cases account for a large treatable percentage of menstrual disturbance