Neonatal hypothyroidism: treatment and outcome

Systematic neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CH), which was progressively implemented in industrialized countries over the past 15 to 25 years, has been extremely successful in eradicating severe mental deficiency resulting from CH. However, in the first generation of children diagnosed by screening, the concept that CH has a threshold effect on intelligence was confirmed. In spite of earlier diagnosis through screening, children with severe CH (i.e., those with a marked retardation of bone age and/or a low circulating thyroxine [T4] before treatment) still had clinically significant intellectual sequelae, amounting to a loss of 6 to 19 IQ points. Recent studies suggest that this developmental gap may be closed by treating more rapidly after birth (2 weeks instead of 4-5 weeks in the early years of the screening era) and by using a higher initial dose of levothyroxine (10-15 instead of 5-8 microg/kg per day). This regimen induces transient hyperthyroxinemia, but no clinical signs or symptoms of hyperthyroidism. Longer term follow-up of larger numbers of patients remains necessary to confirm the normalization of intellectual development and the absence of untowards effects of the treatment regimen in children with severe CH.