title: Circulating thyroxine levels in institutionalized children.
abstract: The circulating levels of total thyroxine (T4) and normalized thyroxine (T4N) were studied in 41 institutionalized children (IC) and in 22 control children (CC), from two to six years old. No difference were observed in the values of T4 between the two groups but in IC, T4N levels are inferior to those in CC. The periods children have been confined, their chronological age and their age at the time of admittance greatly influence these results. The differences between IC and CC become important in the IC groups with less than 6 months of confinement and with more than 24 months, in the groups of 4-year-old children and in the ones admitted before 1 year of age or after 4 years of age. In all parameters studied, the differences with CC in girls are more significant than in boys.
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012112:Residential Facilities; D012737:Sex Factors; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D013974:Thyroxine