The Descriptive Findings of Growth Status among Children with Congenital Hypothyroidism Referred to Isfahan Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center

Considering the high prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in Iran and particularly Isfahan, Iran, and according to the findings of CH screening program which was implemented during recent years and lack of studies evaluating the treatment outcome of diagnosed patients, the aim of this study was to descriptively evaluate the growth status of children with CH. In this prospective cohort study, 760 CH neonates who were diagnosed and followed up during CH screening program (2002-9) in Isfahan were enrolled. They were selected by convenient sampling method. Height, weight, head circumferences and body mass index (BMI) of the studied patients were measured. In addition, the 3rd, 15th, 50th, 85th and 97th percentiles of the studied variables according to sex and age groups were determined and descriptively compared with corresponding values suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO). The percentiles of weight, height and head circumferences of the studied children with CH were significantly different from the WHO values. The observed differences were less significant in higher percentiles. The differences reduced during the follow-up and they were lower in older ages. The findings of this study indicated that proper treatment of neonates with CH would improve the growth delay of patients during follow-up. However, normal growth of head circumference would be achieved earlier than weight.