Thyroid dysfunction in infants with severe intestinal insufficiency: a case series

The aim of this study was to describe the status of thyroid function in infants with severe intestinal dysfunction.

A retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary neonatal intensive care center, including newborns and infants with severe intestinal dysfunction, hospitalized between 2015 and 2020. From the medical records, the following data were collected: gestational age, birth weight, underlying pathology that led to intestinal dysfunction, hospital stay, presence of thyroid dysfunction, age from the onset of thyroid dysfunction, initial and maximum dose of levothyroxine replacement, and levothyroxine administration route and outcome. Seven children (0.76% of 914 hospitalizations) developed severe intestinal insufficiency: vanishing gastroschisis (42.9%), Berdon syndrome (28.5%), apple peel (14.3%), and OIES syndrome (14.3%) - omphalocele, exstrophy of cloaca, imperforate anus, and spina bifida. The mean gestational age was 33.3±1.6 weeks, the mean birth weight was 2,113.9±370.9 g, the median hospitalization was 420 days, and mortality was 42.9%. Of these seven cases, four (57.1%) presented thyroid dysfunction, evaluated by blood hormone dosages and the dose of levothyroxine replacement ranged from 25 to 100 μg/day, administered by gastric or rectal route.

This series of cases draws attention to thyroid dysfunction (hypothyroidism) in children with severe intestinal insufficiency receiving exclusive parenteral nutrition for a prolonged period, whose etiology is iodine deficiency, because, in Brazil, micronutrient solutions added to parenteral nutrition do not contain iodine.