The emerging role of a newborn screening program for congenital hypothyroidism: a prospective study

Aim: The current study aims to evaluate the incidence & screening of neonates for congenital hypothyroidism for timely diagnosis and integral psychomotor development. Material & Methods: A prospective study was carried out in the Department of Pediatrics, Chirayu Medical College & Hospital Bhopal, India from a period from January 2015 to December 2018. All newborns with the gestational age of 34 weeks or more delivered in the hospital during the study period were screened for hypothyroidism and analyzed. Result: A total of 1363 babies were enrolled out of which 1272 were an eligible candidate for the study period. Numbers of term deliveries were 1109 and preterm deliveries were 163, with 665 (52.28%) males and 607 (47.72%) female babies. Of the total eligible neonates, 1109 were term babies and 163 were preterm babies with more than 34 weeks. Neonatal thyroid-stimulating hormone was estimated in all 1272 neonates out of which 2 cases were positive for CH, 12 cases had initially high values between 10-19 µIU/L but later on, repeat testing after two weeks were found to be within normal limits and rest all 1258 cases were normal. Conclusion: Timely diagnosis and treatment of CH are important in order to prevent its consequences. NBS is the need of the hour for early diagnosis of CH, which is simple, fast as well as cost-effective.