Abstract
The development of a screening program for congenital hypothyroidism(CH) was a difficult task for us. We started in January 1979 with a limited screening in a population of newborns of high risk. This population was defined by the presence of one non-specific sign that can be associated with CH in newborns. These signs were detailed in a special form distributed along with instruction to take and send a drop of blood to the laboratory. A TSH assay on filter paper, developed by us, was used for the screening. We received, up to June 1988, 4693 samples and we detected 123 CH. However, only 22% were diagnosed during the first month of life and 43% within two months of life. Therefore, 57% were diagnosed between 3 and 12 months of age even though 80% had signs before the first month of life. In view of the shortcomings of these programs, in 1985 we started a massive screening in 3 areas of our country. From August 1985 to June 1988, we collected 27556 and we detected 8 CH, an incidence of 1/3447. Difussion of these programs in the community resulted in the spontaneous request of 14950 samples for study which resulted in the detection of 10 CH between 2 and 120 days of age (48.5±40.6 d.). In summary we made the diagnosis of 141 CH by different*methods. We conclude that the best effective method for early diagnosis of CH is massive screening and that this should be put into practice in our country. The fact that from 141 detected HC only 72 (50%) were younger than 3 months, (even when they would have been younger than 1 month) reinforce the idea or the necessity to implantate the massive screening in our country.
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Ioransky, S., Papendiek, L., Arriazu, M. et al. EFFECTIVENESS OF 2 SCREENING PROGRAMS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF CONGENITAL HYPOTHYROIDISM(CH). Pediatr Res 26, 164 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198908000-00032
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198908000-00032