Abstract
A pilot study in Belgrade was carried out in order to establish optimal conditions for a nation-wide programme in Serbia. We measured TSH on PKU filter paper blood samples by Biodata's neonatal RIA kits. During the first 12 months, beginning in January 1983, 19.972 newborns were screened (97,5% of all live born infants in Belgrade area) and 3 cases confirmed giving an preliminary incidence of 1:6.657. Sixty one infants (0,3%) were recalled for another filter paper sample, but later with cut-off level of TSH above 30 mIU/1 recallrate was 0,07%. Diagnosis was confirmed by Tc99 scan (one infant with aplasia, two with sublingual ectopia of thyroid), and therapy begun at 10-13 days of life. All three female patients had A Rh positive blood group. In the three groups of sick preterm infants with different mean gestational ages (31,0;34,8 and 37,7 weeks, respectively) there were no correlations with TSH values (7,4; 6,7 and 6,2 mIU/l). Neither in healthy term, nor in sick preterm newborns cases of transitory hypothyroidism were found, probably partly because of an efficient iodine prophylaxis of our population.
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Banicevic, M., Subottc, Z. & Kurt, N. Screening for congenital hypothyroidism – a pilot study in Belgrade. Pediatr Res 18, 1221 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198411000-00125
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198411000-00125