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Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Children with Congenital Hypothyroidism

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Thyroid Diseases in Childhood

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Abstract

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is the most common preventable cause of mental retardation in children. The introduction of neonatal screening programs and early levothyroxine (l-T4) replacement therapy have drastically changed the neurodevelopmental outcomes of CH children reducing the prevalence of intellectual disabilities from 8–28 % to 1 %.

However, despite early and adequate treatment, some children with CH are still reported as having subtle cognitive deficits, decreased motor skills, hearing impairment, behavioral, memory and schooling problems, and quality-of-life impairment.

Several factors have been documented to negatively affect neurodevelopmental outcome of children with CH such as severity of CH at diagnosis, etiology, delayed bone maturation at diagnosis, delayed age at initiation of replacement l-T4 therapy, low initial l-T4 dose, later time of thyroid function normalization, poor compliance to treatment, and sociodemographic factors.

To which extent each of them impacts on the outcome of these children remains to be clarified.

Therefore, neurodevelopmental aspects should be periodically monitored in all children with CH in order to promptly identify and address possible deficits.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Section- Department of Translational Medical Sciences, Via S. Pansini, 5, Naples, 80131, Italy

    Mariacarolina Salerno, Lucia De Martino & Manuela Cerbone

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  1. Mariacarolina Salerno
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  2. Lucia De Martino
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  3. Manuela Cerbone
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Correspondence to Mariacarolina Salerno .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Novara, Italy

    Gianni Bona

  2. Messina, Italy

    Filippo De Luca

  3. Division of Pediatrics, Piedemonte Hospital, Novara, Italy

    Alice Monzani

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Salerno, M., De Martino, L., Cerbone, M. (2015). Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Children with Congenital Hypothyroidism. In: Bona, G., De Luca, F., Monzani, A. (eds) Thyroid Diseases in Childhood. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19213-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19213-0_12

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