Maternal hypothyroidism and subsequent neuropsychological outcome of the progeny: a family portrait

Normal neuropsychological development depends upon adequate function of both maternal and foetal thyroid gland [1]. Previous studies suggested that even mild hypothyroidism can interfere with normal brain development [2, 3]. Maternal hypothyroidism is not a rarely diagnosed condition during pregnancy [4]. The diagnosis and the treatment of such condition are not troublesome [5–7], but the possibility to predict what will be going on in the newborn, once maternal hypothyroidism is discovered, remains difficult. As a result it is not rare that some pregnant women with severe hypothyroidism during gestation could consider early termination of pregnancy fearing that their infant might have significant mental retardation [8, 9]. We are here reporting the early and long-term neuropsychological development of the progeny of a thyroidectomized woman displaying different degrees of hypothyroidism in three subsequent pregnancies.