THE ASSOCIATION OF CONGENITAL HYPOTHYROIDISM AND CONGENITAL GASTROINTESTINAL ANOMALIES IN DOWNS-SYNDROME INFANTS

Objective: To study the prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism in inf ants with Down's syndrome and to verify whether there is an associatio n with other congenital defects, Methods: This is a prospective study of 112 Down patients, less than 1 year of age, who attended Songklanag arind Hospital from January 1991 to December 1996, Free T-4 and TSH de terminations were performed in all Down infants, Information on karyot ype, sex, maternal age and other congenital anomalies was collected, R esults: Congenital hypothyroidism was detected in 17 patients (15.2%); 3 overt congenital hypothyroidism; 6 persistent compensated hypothyro idism; and 8 transient compensated hypothyroidism. Nine of the 20 pati ents (45%) with congenital gastrointestinal anomalies had congenital h ypothyroidism, while 8 out of 92 patients (8.7%) without congenital ga strointestinal anomalies had congenital hypothyroidism, The odds ratio was 8.59 (95% confidence interval 2.4-31.6; p = 0.0001) Conclusion: C ongenital hypothyroidism has a relatively high prevalence rate in Down infants and tends to occur in Down patients with gastrointestinal ano malies.