High Prevalence of Infertility among Women with Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
Table 1
Characteristics of the women with GD and HT who reported or did not report a period of infertility.
Characteristics
Infertility
No infertility
value
Graves’ disease
101 (52.3)
92 (47.7)
Agea
44.3 (9.4)
42.2 (9.3)
NSb
Age at menarche (years)a
12.8 (1.8)
12.6 (1.6)
NSb
Age at sexual debut (years)a
17.6 (3.8)
17.5 (3.7)
NSb
Age at diagnosis (years)a
36.5 (9.8)
35.8 (9.1)
NSb
Time of the disease (years)a
7.8 (5.9)
6.3 (4.6)
NSb
Exophthalmos
57 (56.4)
60 (65.2)
NSc
Goiter volume (cm3)a
26.4 (22.2)
26.2 (18.9)
NSa
Thyroid nodule
28 (31.4)
25 (29.7)
NSc
Anti-TPO
87 (87.9)
72 (84.7)
NSc
Anti-Tg
61 (61.6)
52 (58.4)
NSc
Other autoimmune diseases
11 (10.9)
11 (11.9)
NSc
Family history of thyroid disease
Graves’ disease
14 (13.8)
14 (15.5)
NSc
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
13 (12.8)
7 (7.8)
NSc
Family history of other autoimmune diseases
47 (46.5)
38 (42.2)
NSc
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
31 (47.0)
35 (53.0)
Age (years)a
44.7 (10.4)
46.2 (10.8)
NSb
Age at menarche (years)a
12.4 (2.0)
12.4 (1.6)
NSb
Age at sexual debut (years)a
18.5 (3.8)
17.4 (3.1)
NSb
Age at diagnosis (years)a
39.2 (10.6)
37.1 (11.4)
NSb
Time of the disease (years)a
5.5 (4.2)
9.1 (5.6)
0.004b
Goiter
10 (33.3)
13 (39.4)
NSc
Goiter volume (cm3)a
17.8 (22.3)
16.3 (11.8)
NSb
Thyroid nodule
15 (50.0)
10 (30.3)
NSc
Anti-TPO
27 (90.0)
33 (94.3)
NSd
Anti-Tg
27 (87.1)
29 (82.8)
NSd
Other autoimmune diseases
4 (12.9)
3 (8.6)
NSd
Family history of thyroid disease
Graves’ disease
2 (6.7)
5 (14.3)
NSd
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
11 (36.7)
10 (28.6)
NSc
Family history of other autoimmune diseases
18 (60.0)
18 (51.4)
NSc
“Infertility” and “No infertility” groups refer, respectively, to the group of women who reported a period of infertility and the group of women who did not. NS: not significant; values consist of means ± standard deviation of the mean; Mann-Whitney test; chi-square test; Fisher’s exact test; anti-TPO: antithyroid peroxidase antibodies; anti-Tg: antithyroglobulin antibodies.