Menna Allah Mohammed Abbas, Salwa Mostafa El Badrey, Abeer Mohamed ElDeeb, Ahmed ‎Mahmoud Sayed

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of aerobic exercises on the thyroid hormones in treated hypothyroid pregnant women. Subjects and methods: A total of 42 pregnant women with treated hypothyroidism. Their age was ranged from 25 to 35 years and their body mass index was ranged from 30 to 35 kg/m². They were randomly distributed into two groups. The control group received thyroxine replacement doses (100 µg/day), and the exercise group received the same medical treatment and participated in a program of aerobic exercises for 12 weeks. Blood samples were collected for measuring the serum level of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxin (FT4) for each pregnant woman before and after 12 weeks of the study course. Results: TSH level was significantly reduced (p=0.0001) in the control and the exercise groups post-treatment, this reduction was in favor of exercise group. While FT4 level was significantly increased (p=0.0001) in the exercise group without significant difference (p=0.639) in the control group. Conclusion: Regular aerobic exercises decrease TSH level and increase FT4 level in treated hypothyroid pregnant women. So, it can be recommended for every hypothyroid pregnant woman along with the thyroxine replacement doses to improve the thyroid function and avoid the deleterious impact of hypothyroidism on mother and fetus.