Prevalence of minor musculoskeletal anomalies in children with congenital hypothyroidism

Abstract

In the last decade a high frequency of extrathyroidal congenital anomalies has been reported in infants with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) detected by neonatal screening. In the present study the occurrence of additional congenital malformations (CM) in a cohort of children with confirmed primary CH due to thyroid dysgenesis was investigated. A high prevalence of extrathyroidal major congenital anomalies (15.9%), more than 5-fold higher than that reported in the Egyptian population (2.7%), was found. The cardiac and musculoskeletal systems were the most commonly involved, comprising 9.09 and 47.72% of all anomalies, respectively. The high prevalence of musculoskeletal anomalies in this study was mostly due to minor anomalies as brachydactyly and digitalization of thumbs. The type of dysgenesis (i.e. aplastic, ectopic or hypoplastic) as well as the severity of hypothyroidism, as assessed by TSH and T(4) levels at diagnosis, had no relation with the occurrence of extrathyroidal abnormalities.