Background: Studies on association between iron status and thyroid function of pregnant women was never conducted in Jaffna District of Sri Lanka. Therefore, this study was carried out to find the relation between maternal iron status and thyroid function at third trimester. Materials and Methods: Four hundred and seventy seven pregnant mothers were randomly selected among six Medical Officers of Health (MOH) divisions from twelve in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. Maternal serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4), thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) and ferritin levels were assessed. Results: Among the 477 pregnant women mean age, weight, height and gestational period were 28.95(±5.46) years, 63.02 (±11.56) kg, 154.39 (±6.00) cm and 39.33(±1.37) weeks respectively. In this study, maternal median serum ferritin level was 23.4 µg/L and it ranged from 1.2 to 197.0 µg/L and the 21.0 % (n=100) were iron deficient. Inter quartile range (IQR) of serum ferritin was (Q1=14.3 and Q3=36.6) 22.3 µg/L. Further IQR of deficient and sufficient groups of mothers on iron status were 4.80 and 20.17 µg/L respectively. Median values of the serum TSH, free T4 and TBG levels were 1.9 mIU/L, 12.6 pmol/L and 21.4 IU/mL respectively. The serum TSH level ranged from 0.20 to 16.40 mIU/L while serum fT4 and TBG levels ranged from 10.1 to 28.2 pmol/L and 0.8- 86.9 IU/mL respectively. Among the total subjects, only 3.4 % (n=16) were biochemically hypothyroid. Maternal serum ferritin level was positively significantly correlated with serum TSH level (r=0.110, p=0.022) and positively correlated with free T4 level (r=0.003, p=0.945) and TBG level (r=0.059, p=0.220). Conclusion: Among the study subjects in Jaffna district, iron deficiency (Serum ferritin <12 µg/L) was 21.0 % while only 3.4 % were biochemically hypothyroid (TSH> 5.2 mIU/L). Maternal serum ferritin level was positively significantly correlated with maternal serum TSH level (r=0.110, p=0.022) and positively correlated with free T4 level (r=0.003, p=0.945) and TBG level (r=0.059, p=0.220).
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