NEONATAL THYROID SCREENING OF A MULTIRACIAL POPULATION

A retrospective study on the thyroid status of 832 infants, born in Pa naga Hospital in Brunei, was conducted, Despite a high degree of ethni c variability, screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CHT) included a fixed T4 and a TSH reference interval, based on a population of Mala y infants. We tested their reliability for this heterologous group of infants, New T4 and TSH intervals were determined for each ethnic grou p and compared, revealing false positive and false negative judgements made during the period of study. Caucasian infants showed significant ly higher T4 and TSH serum levels than all other ethnic groups, Regard ing T4, most false positive judgements were found among the Malay infa nts. False negative judgements were detected among the Caucasian femal e infants. A new reference scheme was recommended, consisting of refer ence values that are applicable in neonatal thyroid screening of all i nfants in Panaga Hospital, regardless of their ethnic origin.