Hypothyroidism in children/adolescents. Clinical and hormonal profiles

This paper describes the clinical, hormonal and radiologic profiles in 282 children evaluated for hypothyroidism. Short stature, mental retardation or puberal disturbances were often the presenting features in the older age group, whereas in the 1-5 years age group medical opinion was usually sought for symptomatology suggestive of thyroid hypofunction. Children in the 0-1 year group were suspected on the basis of psychomotor dysfunction. Skeletal immaturity was found in 93.0% of patients with overt hypothyroidism and in 36.6% cases with normal thyroid profiles but associated with malnutrition. High TSH levels were noted in 70.9% of the cases studied. 4.9% and 7.3% patients with normal TSH had low T3, and T4 levels respectively. FSH, testosterone and PRL levels were also affected in some patients with overt hypothyroidism. Therapeutic responses based on at least 1 year follow up were available in 170 cases. The results are discussed.