Pregnancy Outcomes in Thyroid Cancer Survivors: A Propensity Score-Matched Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: Some female thyroid cancer survivors wish to become pregnant following their cancer treatment. Current studies have shown inconsistent results on pregnancy outcomes in these survivors; however, detailed information on the pathological type, treatment, and gestational thyroid function of these patients are not yet well documented, making the refined assessment of the influence of a history of thyroid cancer and related treatments on pregnancy outcomes challenging.

Objective: To investigate the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in thyroid cancer survivors.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. We included all women aged between 19 and 45 years old who delivered between January 2019 and June 2020 in West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University. Women with tumors other than thyroid cancer or other thyroid diseases were excluded. The included women were divided into survivors of thyroid cancer (survivors) and women without any history of thyroid disease (controls). Propensity score matching and logistic regression were used to control confounding variables.

Results: All 18,332 women who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study (96 survivors of papillary thyroid cancer and 18,236 controls). After propensity score matching, 96 survivors and 192 controls were included. The survivors had higher levels of free thyroxine (15.47 [13.61-17.67] vs. 14.38 [13.20-15.81] pmol/mL; P<0.001) and higher levels of thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) (43.55 [31.43-71.43] vs. 35.95 [28.00-48.03] U/mL; P=0.008) but similar levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (1.46 [0.56-3.15] vs. 1.36 [0.81-1.92] mIU/mL; P=0.142) than the controls. There were no significant differences in adverse pregnancy outcomes between survivors and controls. Fetal macrosomia was lower among survivors (OR: 0.077, 95% CI: 0.009-0.668. P=0.020) than controls. Additionally, survivors had reduced weight gain during pregnancy (13.0 [10.0-15.0] vs. 14.00 [11.00-16.00] kg, P=0.005) and reduced placental weight (563.0 [514.5-620.0] vs. 572.0 [520.0-650.0] g, P=0.019), albeit with small absolute differences. Thyroidectomy or radioiodine therapy did not adversely affect pregnancy outcomes.

Conclusion: A history of treated papillary thyroid cancer was not associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Keywords: gestational thyroid function; pregnancy outcomes; radioiodine therapy; thyroid cancer; thyroidectomy.