Gökten Korkmaz¹, Mustafa Özçetin², Yakup Çağ³, Ufuk Yükselmiş³, Volkan Öngel⁴, Olcay Işık⁵

1. Süleymaniye Maternity and Children Diseases Training and Research Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Istanbul, Turkey.
2. Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Istanbul, Turkey
3. Lutfi Kirdar Kartal Training and Research Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Istanbul, Turkey
4. Beykent University, Department of Economics, Istanbul, Turkey
5. Kocaeli University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neonatology, Kocaeli, Turkey.

Abstract:

Background: The thyroid gland and hormonal regulation are among the most important systems to be investigated in pre-term infants. This study sought to investigate thyroid hormone levels of healthy and unhealthy pre-term infants.

Methods: The prospective study included 53 consecutive premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit within a duration of one year. Of these preterm babies, 20 were healthy, while 33 had problems such as asphyxia or RDS. Venous blood samples were collected at baseline 0-24 hours, 7 and 14 days and FT3, FT4, and TSH levels were determined. Other data recorded included demographic characteristics of the patients and clinical variables.

Results: The most frequent health problems were RDS (87.9%), sepsis (30.3%), and retinopathy of prematurity (24.2%). The mean TSH levels showed a consistent decline at three consequent measurements in both groups, which were always significantly lower in unhealthy pre-terms. In both groups, TSH levels showed significant decreases on Day 7 and Day 14 compared to the baseline levels (p<005). The levels of FT3 and FT4 consistently showed significant correlations with gestational week and birth weight at each of the three measurements.

Conclusion: Pre-term infants, especially those having problems, have significant hypothyroxinemia that may require thyroid hormone replacement therapy.

Keywords: Prematurity, hypothyroxinemia, thyroid, TSH.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v18i2.23

Cite as: Korkmaz G, Özçetin M, Çağ Y, Yükselmiş U, Öngel V, Işık O. Thyroid function in healthy and unhealthy preterm newborns. Afri

Health Sci. 2018;18(2): 378-383. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v18i2.23

Thyroid function in healthy and unhealthy preterm newborns.PDF