Korean J Perinatol.  2016 Mar;27(1):45-52. 10.14734/kjp.2016.27.1.45.

Perinatal Factors Associated with the Preterm Thyroid Screening Test

• Park JH
• Moon CJ
• Jung MH
• Sung IK
• Kim SY

• KMID: 2164268
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14734/kjp.2016.27.1.45

Abstract

PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of thyroid function screening in preterm infants and the relation between thyroid hormone level, perinatal environment, and clinical presentation after preterm birth.
METHODS
We retrospectively evaluated 46 preterm infants from March 2013 to December 2014, who had been screened for congenital hypothyroidism during the 1st week with thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine (T3) and free thyroxine (fT4) measured by the radioimmunoassay method. The effects of pregnancy associated maternal factors, gestational age, growth parameters, Apgar score, 1st meconium passage time, respiratory distress syndrome and apnea on thyroid hormone levels were assessed by Mann-Whitney U-test and multiple linear regression analysis.
RESULTS
With advancing gestational age, T3 and fT4 displayed a tendency to increase. FT4 showed a positive correlation pattern with antenatal steroid therapy, corrected gestational age at examination and a negative correlation pattern with 1st meconium passage time and apnea (P<0.05). TSH displayed a positive correlation pattern with 1st meconium passage time, 5-minute Apgar score and a negative correlation pattern with sampling age (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION
In the preterm period, both fT4 and TSH seems to correlate significantly with various perinatal factors and clinical presentation. We recommend that early fT4 screening should be included in the screening for hypothyroidism in preterm infants.

Keyword

Prematurity; Thyroid hormones; Thyroxine; Triiodothyronine; Thyrotropin

MeSH Terms

Apgar Score
Apnea
Congenital Hypothyroidism
Gestational Age
Humans
Hypothyroidism
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Premature
Linear Models
Mass Screening*
Meconium
Pregnancy
Premature Birth
Radioimmunoassay
Retrospective Studies
Thyroid Gland*
Thyroid Hormones
Thyrotropin
Thyroxine
Triiodothyronine
Thyroid Hormones
Thyrotropin
Thyroxine
Triiodothyronine

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Thyroid function test such as (A) T3 (B) FT4 (C) TSH according to corrected gestational age at 1 week sampling in preterm infants. Abbreviations: T3, triiodothyronine; fT4, free thyroxine; TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone.

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