Background:

congenital hypothyroidism is a thyroid gland disorder where a newborn has a decrease or absent thyroid function and leads to irreversible damage of the psychomotor and cognitive development when is detected late. Early diagnosis of this condition allows for establishing treatment and effective monitoring of the case to avoid inherent irreversible consequences.

Methods:

we conducted a nested case control study (1:4) in the Hospital Universitario de Santander from June 2014 to December 2016. Neonates with thyroid-stimulating hormone >15 µU/mL from cord blood samples or thyroid-stimulating hormone > 10 µU/mL from heel prick collected in Guthrie cards were considered as probable cases of congenital hypothyroidism (cases), and 226 newborns with normal thyroid-stimulating hormone levels were randomly chosen as controls. We consulted clinical and demographic data from medical records.

Results:

a total of 6,180 newborns were screened. Fifty-five cases were detected. The prevalence of probable cases of congenital hypothyroidism was 0.89 % (CI 95 % 6,71 - 11,57). The associated factors were complete antenatal care (ORa 0.30 CI95 % 0.11 - 0.87) and partial antenatal care (ORa 0.34 CI9 5% 0.13-0.88), first pregnancy (ORa 2.08 CI95 % 1.08-4.02), APGAR 5 min <9 (ORa 3.69 CI95 % 1.46-9.33), and low birth weight (ORa 3.04; CI95 % 1.13 - 8.19).

Conclusions:

the congenital hypothyroidism prevalence was higher than in previous studies. However, the confirmatory thyroxine T4 test was not done in this hospital. These associated factors could be used to closely monitor that all newborns with these characteristics are screened, as well as to prioritize the confirmation of probable cases of congenital hypothyroidism.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )