Intellectual outcome, motor skills and BMI of children with congenital hypothyroidism: a population-based study.
Keywords
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate intellectual outcome, motor skills and anthropometric data of children with congenital hypothyroidism (CH).
METHODS
Children with permanent CH who were born in 1999 in Bavaria were eligible for this prospective, population-based study. Cognitive performance was evaluated by the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children and motor skills were assessed by the motor test, Motoriktest für vier-bis sechsjahrige Kinder (MOT) 4-6.
RESULTS
Eighteen of 21 eligible children participated (86%). Median age of the children was 5.5 years (range 4.9-5.8). Treatment with levothyroxine was started after a median of 7.2 days (range 4-15) with a median dose of 12.0 microg/kg (range 7.2-17.0). Mean intelligence quotient (IQ) of the children was 100.4 (standard deviation [SD] 10.1): no children had IQ values below the normal range. Reactivity and speed of movement were significantly reduced in children with CH. Children with an initial thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) value of >200 mU/L performed significantly worse than children with TSH value of CONCLUSIONS In this study, children with CH had an increased prevalence of overweight compared to reference data. Partially impaired motor skills could be shown, whereas the intellectual development was normal.