SWY To, ACC Fu, CC Shek

Abstract

Objective: Evaluation of the prevalence of different thyroid disorders and co-morbidities in children and adolescents with Down syndrome (DS). Methodology: Retrospective review of medical records from a tertiary referral centre in Hong Kong from 2002 to 2017. Prevalence of different thyroid disorders and associations with co-morbidities were calculated. Results: Among the 157 patients enrolled in analysis, impaired thyroid function was found in 58 (36.9%) patients. The most common form of thyroid-related disorder was subclinical hypothyroidism. Of note, 4.5% of them had oscillating thyroid diseases. Anti-thyroid antibody testing was done in 19% of the patients. Haematological malignancies were significantly associated with development of any thyroid diseases (p=0.026). Fifty percent of DS patients were shown to be affected by thyroid abnormalities by 22.9 years. Conclusion: Thyroid abnormalities are very common among children with DS. Anti-thyroid antibody testing is indicated in older children to delineate the risk of development or persistence of thyroid diseases. Consensus is needed to standardise the time points of thyroid function evaluation especially during early stages of life.