title: Clinical practice: experience with newborn screening for congenital hypothyroidism in the Republic of Macedonia - a multiethnic country.
abstract: To evaluate the thyroid screening program and to estimate the prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) among newborns in the Republic of Macedonia, we measured thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels in dried blood spot specimens using the DELFIA fluoroimmunoassay, over a period of 12 years. The TSH cutoff level was 10 mU/L blood. A total of 215,077 newborns were screened (94.76 %). Out of 254 recalled newborns (a recall rate of 0.15 %), 83 newborns with CH were detected, yielding a CH prevalence at screening of 1/2,591 (female to male ratio, 1.86:1). Of the CH cases, 47/107,754 (56.6 %) neonates were Macedonian, 29/70,330 (34.9 %) were Albanian, and 7/15,055 (8.4 %) were Roma. The thyroid gland was undetectable on ultrasound in 43 (51.8 %) newborns with CH, thyroid hypoplasia was confirmed in 8 (9.6 %), while 29 (34.9 %) had a normal thyroid gland. In three newborns (3.6 %), agenesis of one lobe was confirmed. Therapy with levothyroxin was initiated on average 11.7 days after birth.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The national thyroid newborn screening program in Macedonia has been successful and effective, providing timely diagnosis and treatment of children with congenital hypothyroidism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology and Genetics, University Clinic for Children's Diseases, Vodnjanska 17, Skopje, Macedonia, mirjanakocova@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mirjana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kocova
authors.forename: Violeta
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Anastasovska
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sukarova-Angelovska
authors.forename: Milica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanaskoska
authors.forename: Elizabeta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Taseva
mesh_terms: D003409:Congenital Hypothyroidism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D015200:Fluoroimmunoassay; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D018843:Republic of North Macedonia / Q000453:epidemiology; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000097:blood*; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D013972:Thyrotropin; D013974:Thyroxine