Growth outcome in congenital hypothyroidism

Park, Mi Jung; Kim, Ho Seong; Kim, Duk Hi

Abstract

Congenital hypothyroidism is one of the most common endocrine disease in childhood and it causes not only mental retardation but also growth retardation. There were many papers about evaluation of developmental outcome in congenital hypothyroidism. The aim of this study was to evaluate growth outcome in congenital hypothyroidism. We evaluated 65 patients with congenital hypothyroidism diagnosed at Yonsei University College of Medicine. The results were summerized as follows; 1) The Male to female ratio was 1:1.4 2) Among the 65 patients, under 1 year of age with 16 cases (24.6%), 1~4 years with 19 cases (29.2%), 5~10 years with 22 cases (33.8%), above 10 years with 8 cases (12.3%). 3) Among the 65 patients, 30 cases (46%) had ectopic thyroid, 18 cases (28%) had dyshormonogeneses, 10 cases (15%) had hypoplasia and 7 cases (11%) had aplasia. 4) At the initial diagnosis, all the patients showed decreased T3, T4 and increased TSH level. 5) Before treatment, bone age and height age were delayed but they were normalized after treatment. 6) There was correlation between age of initial treatment and current height percentile. 7) There was significant correlation between initial T3 level and height age delay. 8) In the 4 cases who were diagnosed and treated before the age of 4, final adult height would be achieved within normal range. In conclusion, delayed growth due to congenital hypothyroidism would be prevented by early diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, the recognition of the importance of early diagnosis and treatment is emphasized.