Nadia Rashid, Asim Mumtaz, Saqib Mehmood, Nadeem Afzal, Salma Haq, Tanveer Ahmad.
Assessment of thyroid dysfunction in down syndrome patients.
Pak Paed J Jan ;33(4):211-7.

Background: Down’s syndrome (DS) is the phenotypic manifestation of trisomy 21. The individuals with Down’s syndrome are at increased risk for thyroid dysfunction. Hypothyroidism is most common, occurring in almost one third of Down’s syndrome patients. This can be due to lack of the thyroid gland activity at birth (congenital hypothyroidism) or as a consequence of various immune mechanisms. Congenital hypothyroidism has been reported about 30 times more common in newborns with Down’s syndrome than in healthy newborns Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the thyroid functions in Down syndrome patients by measuring serum levels of free thyroxine (FT4), free triidothyronine (FT3) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). Anti Thyroid peroxidase antibodies (Anti TPO) were also measured to assess the autoimmune thyroid disease and to correlate them with thyroid hormone levels. Subjects and Methods: Eighty patients of Down Syndrome (DS) already diagnosed by chromosome analysis were included in the study. These patients were selected from the outpatient department of Medical Genetics at Children Hospital Lahore. Serum FT4, FT3 and TSH were performed by Ortho-Clinical Diagnostic Kits on Vitros ECIQ immunodiagnostic system. Anti TPO was performed by commercially available ELISA kit. Results: The mean age of patients included in the study was 7.64 ± 5.8 years (range 6 months to 18 years). Raised TSH was found in 28 (35%) patients while remaining 52 (65%) had normal TSH levels. The mean FT4 and FT3 levels were 1.17 ng/dl±0.30 (range 0.46 – 2.13) and 4.55 pg/ml ± 0.75 (range 2.48 – 6.17) respectively. Mean anti-TPO level was 48 + 178 mg/dl (range 0.10 -1139) and six (7.5%) patients had positive anti-TPO. Conclusion: The results of this study show raised levels of TSH and anti TPO in DS patients. Subclinical hypothyroidism is found in significant number of patients. Assessment of thyroid function in patents of Down syndrome is recommended at regular intervals.

USER COMMENTS

How did the authors arise at this conclusion without mentioning a test of significance and its result in the abstract?
Posted by: aftab.iqba on Feb 2010

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