title: Assessment of thyroid function during the long course of Hashimoto's thyroiditis in children and adolescents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prognosis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) in children and adolescents is not well known and studies reporting long-term outcome of the disease are scarce.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the thyroid hormone status during long-term follow-up and to establish the prognosis of children and adolescents with HT.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and twenty-nine patients with HT were re-evaluated for thyroid hormone status after a mean follow-up period of 50 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-seven per cent of the euthyroid patients were still euthyroid, while 21.1% of these patients became hypothyroid at the time of re-evaluation. However, 69.5% of hypothyroid patients remained hypothyroid (overt or subclinical) and 30.5% recovered.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HT is a dynamic process. Thyroid functions can show variation during follow-up. Therefore, thyroid function tests should be repeated periodically to detect progression to hypothyroidism in initially euthyroid patients as well as reversibility of hypothyroidism.
authors.affiliation: Division of Paediatric Endocrinology, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. Dr_huseyin@hotmail.com
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Demirbilek
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kandemir
authors.forename: E N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Gonc
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozon
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alikasifoglu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D050031:Hashimoto Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D013960:Thyroid Function Tests; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000503:physiopathology*