Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Thyroid function tests in newborns of mothers with hypothyroidism

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Journal of Pediatrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Performing thyroid function tests (TFT) at 2 weeks of age in neonates of mothers with hypothyroidism, despite having a newborn screening program, is a debated approach. We examined whether there is an additional clinical benefit in TFT at 2 weeks of age in neonates born to mothers with hypothyroidism, in addition to the neonatal screening program. We performed a retrospective study which included all newborns of mothers with a diagnosis of hypothyroidism and gave birth in a single regional hospital between the years 2010 and 2016. Data were collected from a computerized medical record system of the hospital and the community clinics, and from Israel’s national newborn screening program. Main outcome measure was results of serum TFT in comparison to the results of the neonatal screening test. There were 1392 newborns eligible according to the study criteria. Of these, 1033 underwent a newborn screening test, and serum TFT at least 2 weeks after birth. Eight babies with congenital hypothyroidism were detected independently by both the newborn screening program and at the TFT performed at 2 weeks of age.

Conclusions: No added clinical benefit was found in retesting newborns of hypothyroid mothers for thyroid function in addition to the newborn screening program.

What is Known

• Performing thyroid function test 2 weeks after birth is a common practice in newborn to a mother with hypothyroidism.

• Neonatal screening program for thyroid function is also done in these newborns.

What is New

• No newborn was found to have a normal newborn screening test but abnormal serum thyroid function test.

• No added clinical benefit was found in retesting newborns of hypothyroid mothers for thyroid function in addition to the newborn screening program.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

CH:

Congenital hypothyroidism

SUMC:

Soroka University Medical Center

TFT:

Thyroid function tests

References

  1. Rastogi MV, LaFranchi SH (2010) Congenital hypothyroidism. Orphanet J Rare Dis 5(17):1–22

    Google Scholar 

  2. Simpser T, Rapaport R (2010) Update on some aspects of neonatal thyroid disease. J Clin Res Pediatr Endocrinol 2(3):95–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Olney RS, Grosse SD, Vogt RT (2010) Prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism- current trends and future directions: workshop summary. Pediatrics 125(Sup 2):S31–S36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Dalili S, Rezvany SM, Dadashi A, Medghalchi A, Mohammadi H, Dalili H, Mirzanejad M, Gholamnezhad H, Amirhakimi A (2012) Congenital hypothyroidism: a review of the risk factors. Acta Med Iran 50(11):735–739

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Medda E, Oliveri A, Stazi MA et al (2005) Risk factors for congenital hypothyroidism: results of a population case-control study (1997-2003). Eur J Endocrinol 153:765–773

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Beharier O, Walfisch A, Wainstock T, Szaingurten-Solodkin I, Landau D, Sheiner E (2020) Maternal hypothyroidism during pregnancy and the risk for infectious morbidity of the offspring. Am J Perinatol 37(3):291–295. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-3400980

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Gutvirtz G, Walfisch A, Wainstock T, Landau D, Sheiner E (2019) Maternal hypothyroidism and future pediatric neurological morbidity of the offspring. Arch Gynecol Obstet 299(4):975–981. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-019-05092-1

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Eshkoli T, Wainstock T, Sheiner E, Beharier O, Fraenkel M, Walfisch A (2019) Maternal hypothyroidism during pregnancy and the risk of pediatric endocrine morbidity in the offspring. Am J Perinatol 36(9):975–980. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0038-1675834

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Wikner BN, Sparre LS, Stiller CO, Kallen B, Asker C (2008) Maternal use of thyroid hormones in pregnancy and neonatal outcome. Acta Obstet Gynecol 87:617–627

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Fernandez-Rodriguez B, Perez-Diaz AJ (2017) Evaluation of a follow-up protocol of infants born to mothers with antithyroid antibodies during pregnancy. J Matern Neonatal Med 31:312–319. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767058.2017.1285886

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ogilvy-Stuart AL (2002) Neonatal thyroid disorders. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 87:F165–F171

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Kumar Banakar M, Formosa M (2011) Serum thyroid function tests in neonates of mothers with thyroid disease. Indian J Pediatr 78(7):870–873

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. McGovern M, Reyani Z, O'Connor P, White M, Miletin J (2016) Thyroid function testing in neonates born to women with hypothyroidism. Eur J Pediatr 175:2015–2018

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Ogundele MO, Waterson M (2010) When should we be conducting thyroid function tests in newborns and young infants? Arch Dis Child 95:151–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Hawke A, Stanzelova A, Ruth E, Neylon OM (2017) Infants of hypothyroid mothers- are postnatal thyroid function tests necessary? A retrospective study in a regional hospital. Ir Med J 110(2):514

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Balomenou F, Siomou E, Kolios G, Bairaktari E, Tzoufi M, Giapros V (2019) Are thyroid function tests in neonates born to mothers with hypothyroidism clinically useful? Early Hum Dev 139:104877

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Underland L, Kenigsberg L, Derrick KM, Crespi R, Kaushal T, Lam L (2018) Thyroid function testing in neonates with maternal history of disease. Clin Pediatr (Phila) 57(4):436–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Stagnaro-Green A, Abalovich M, Alexander E, Azizi F, Mestman J, Negro R, Nixon A, Pearce EN, Soldin OP, Sullivan S, Wiersinga W (2011) American Thyroid Association taskforce on thyroid disease during pregnancy and postpartum. Guidelines of the American Thyroid Association for the diagnosis and management of thyroid disease during pregnancy and postpartum. Thyroid 21(10):1081–1125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Rovelli R, Vigone MC, Giovanettoni C, Passoni A, Maina L, Corrias A, Corbetta C, Mosca F, Chiumello G, Weber G (2010) Newborn of mothers affected by autoimmune thyroiditis: the importance of thyroid function monitoring in the first months of life. Ital J Pediatr 10(36):24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Horsley J, Ogilvy-Stuart AL (2007) The infant of the mother with thyroid disease. Paediatr Child Health 17(6):228–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Brown RS, Bellisario RL, Botero D, Fournier L, Abrams CA, Cowger ML, David R, Fort P, Richman RA (1996) Incidence of transient congenital hypothyroidism due to maternal thyrotropin receptor-blocking antibodies in over one million babies. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 81(3):1147–1151

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Allan WC, Haddow JE, Palomaki GE, Williams JR, Mitchell ML, Hermos RJ, Faix JD, Klein RZ (2000) Maternal thyroid deficiency and pregnancy complications: implications for population screening. J Med Screen 7(3):127–130

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, P.O. box 151, 84101, Be’er Sheva, Israel

    Alon Haim, Neta Loewenthal & Eli Hershkovitz

  2. Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheva, Israel

    Alon Haim, Tamar Wainstock, Neta Loewenthal, Eyal Sheiner, Eli Hershkovitz & Daniela Landau

  3. National Newborn Screening Program, Ministry of Health, Tel-HaShomer, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Shlomo Almashanu

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka University Medical Center, Be’er Sheva, Israel

    Eyal Sheiner

  5. Department of Neonatology, Soroka University Medical Center, Be’er Sheva, Israel

    Daniela Landau

Authors
  1. Alon Haim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tamar Wainstock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shlomo Almashanu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Neta Loewenthal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Eyal Sheiner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Eli Hershkovitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Daniela Landau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

A.H. designed the research study, collected the data, contributed to the data interpretation, and wrote the manuscript. T.W. analyzed the data, contributed to the study design and data interpretation, and reviewed the final version of the manuscript. S.A. and E.S. contributed to the data collection and interpretation and reviewed the final version of the manuscript. E.H. and N.L. contributed to the study design and data interpretation and reviewed the final version of the manuscript. D.L. designed the research study, contributed to the data interpretation, and reviewed the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alon Haim.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Communicated by Peter de Winter

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Haim, A., Wainstock, T., Almashanu, S. et al. Thyroid function tests in newborns of mothers with hypothyroidism. Eur J Pediatr 180, 519–525 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-020-03895-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-020-03895-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation