UCLA

Background

Thyroid disease in pregnancy, preconception, and postpartum is a common and clinically relevant problem. Since the publication of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines in 2017, substantial new clinical and scientific evidence has become available. The aim of these guidelines is to provide clinicians, patients, researchers, and policymakers with evidence-based recommendations on the care of women with thyroid disease before, during, and after pregnancy.

Methods

The clinical questions addressed were informed by prior ATA guidelines, stakeholder feedback, a global needs assessment, and input from the multidisciplinary task force. Systematic literature searches were conducted with the support from a medical librarian and evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework. Recommendations were formulated based on the quality of evidence, balance of benefits and harms, patient values, feasibility, and equity. Where data were limited, Good Practice Statements were formulated. The task force included representatives from 10 international societies as well as patient advocacy groups and a methodologist.

Results

The updated guidelines include recommendations on thyroid function testing, iodine supplementation, thyroid autoimmunity, hypothyroidism, hypothyroxinemia, hyperthyroidism and Graves' disease, thyroid nodules and cancer, and postpartum thyroid dysfunction for women with infertility, pregnant women, and women during postpartum and/or lactation. Recommendations are presented using recommendation tables, additional practical considerations are highlighted in boxes, and background information is provided in the text, tables, and figures per disease entity and chronological subset.

Conclusions

These 2026 ATA guidelines provide updated, evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and management of thyroid disease in women during preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum. While acknowledging that much of the evidence remains of low-to-moderate quality, these guidelines represent current best practices and consensus among international experts from different fields, offering an optimized framework for individualized patient care.