What is it about?
This article reports the findings of a multi-centre 3-year period audit of thyroid function investigations in infants less than 3 months in South West England.
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Why is it important?
The highest proportion of all the tests was performed as routine investigation of prolonged neonatal jaundice (59%), maternal thyroid disorders (5.1%) and suspected neonatal thyroid disorders (6%).
Perspectives
The results confirmed an over-excessive request of thyroid investigations in infants who are already subjected to the routine newborn metabolic screening, with subsequent minimal diagnostic yield. Health institutions in the UK and other developed countries with effective newborn thyroid function screening should consider that further thyroid investigations in early infantile period may be unnecessary.
Dr Michael O Ogundele
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Postgraduate Medical Centre
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: When should we be conducting thyroid function tests in newborns and young infants?, Archives of Disease in Childhood, October 2009, BMJ,
DOI: 10.1136/adc.2008.152835.
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