title: Resetting the detection level of cord blood thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) for the diagnosis of congenital hypothyroidism.
abstract: An appraisal of a 17-year primary thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) screening programme for the detection of congenital hypothyroidism was carried out to establish the reference interval of cord blood TSH in unaffected infants; the mean cord blood TSH concentration of affected infants and the incidence of congenital hypothyroidism in the Najran province of Saudi Arabia. Our findings show a reference interval of cord blood TSH of 2.0-16.8 mU/l in unaffected infants; a mean cord blood TSH concentration of 399 mU/l in affected infants; a false positive rate for the diagnosis of at-risk infants of 1.02% and a congenital hypothyroidism incidence rate of 34/100 000 (1 : 2931) live births. These findings suggest that there is a need to reset the cord blood TSH concentration for the detection of at-risk infants. We suggest that the detection level of cord blood TSH for the recognition of at-risk infants can be set at 90 mU/l rather than the recommended level of 30 mU/l. This should reduce the false positive rate for detection of infants at risk of congenital hypothyroidism.
authors: Laboratory Departments, King Khalid Hospital, Najran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. obaogunkeye@hotmail.com
authors: O O
authors: OO
authors: Ogunkeye
authors: A I
authors: AI
authors: Roluga
authors: F A
authors: FA
authors: Khan
mesh_terms: D003409:Congenital Hypothyroidism / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000379:methods*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012016:Reference Values; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D013972:Thyrotropin