A Survey of Congenital Hypothyroidism Screening Results in Healthcare Centers of Isfahan, District No. 1

Abstract

<em>Introduction:</em>Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is one of the major preventable causes of mental retardation (MR) in infants. Before the implementation of screening programs, early diagnosis of CH at birth was impossible, and led to MR during childhood. CH screening not only promotes early diagnosis and rapid treatment, but also prevents the complications associated with CH. It also decreases families' burden and helps provide valuable information about the physiopathology and epidemyology of CH. This study aimed to evaluate the CH screening results in infants at healthcare centers of district No.1 of Isfahan for future planning. <em>Methods:</em> In this retrospective, descriptive study, data were collected via registration forms, and then analysed using SPSS version 16. <em>Results:</em>In this study, all the infants were screened by heel prick sampling (using a filter paper). In case the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level was 5 or more than 5 (3.5% of total infants), the subjects were referred for further evaluation and cemplementary diagnostic tests. Of all the screened infants, 44% were female and 56% were male. The sampling rates according to the age of the infants were as fallows: 80.6% (3-5 days old), 18.7% (6-21 days old), and 0.7% (22 days old). Also, 88% of the infants had TSH titer of 5-9.9, 9% had TSH of 10-19.9, and 3% had TSH ≥ 20z. Overall, 90.7% of the infants were urban residents and 9.3% lived in rural areas. Also, 6.4% of the screened infants were diagnosed with CH and were immediately treated. <em>Conclusion:</em>The golden time for blood sampling is 3-5 days after birth. In this study, 80% of the mothers refered for screening at a standard time. More training is highly required, specialy for pregnant woman during the 3^rd trimester of pregnancy. In fact, the more mothers are trained in this regard, the more CH screening indicators are promoted. On the other hand, prevalence of the recalled infants was higher than the standard; therefore, the causes should be detected.