Assessment of thyroid function during the long course of Hashimoto's thyroiditis in children and adolescents.
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.
Demirbilek
H
H
Division of Paediatric Endocrinology, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. Dr_huseyin@hotmail.com
Kandemir
N
N
Gonc
E N
EN
Ozon
A
A
Alikasifoglu
A
A
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*