Evaluation of ASQ scores in six months and one year in premature infants and its relation with the results of neonatal thyroid tests

Abstract

Congenital hypothyroidism is one of the most common causes of preventable mental retardation in the world and it is preventable only in case of early and timely diagnosis and treatment. However, some studies have acknowledged that despite timely treatment, developmental disorders in these patients are still higher than in healthy infants, so in the present study, the developmental level of preterm infants treated with congenital hypothyroidism was compared with that of healthy controls. Materials and Methods: In this prospective study, preterm infants with a diagnosis of congenital hypothyroidism who were referred to Tabriz Pediatric Educational and Medical Center during one year were included in the study. These patients were treated according to the relevant guidelines. For each patient with hypothyroidism, a healthy preterm infant with no metabolic disorder with the same age and sex was included. In both patient and control groups, the adjusted ASQ form with birth age was completed at 6 months and 12 months of age with the help of a researcher who has no information about the patient or the health of the patients. The obtained score and other characteristics such as demographic variables were recorded. Results: In this study, out of 85 patients, 35 (41.2%) had no thyroid problem and 50 (58.8%) had hypothyroidism. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of gestational age at delivery, weight and sex (all P values <0.05). Newborns with hypothyroidism had lower scores in all domains at both 6 months and 12 months than the control group. However, the results of the analyzes showed that at the age of 6 months, the difference in scores in the areas of communication, fine movements and personal-social domain was significant (P values from left to right are 0.003, 0.047, 0.021, respectively). 0) However, the difference in scores in the areas of problem solving and large movements was not significant (all P values <0.05). While similar studies at 12 weeks of neonatal age showed no significant difference due to hypothyroidism in any of the areas of communication, large movements, fine movements, problem solving and personal-social area of newborns (all P values <0.05). Also, the number of disordered cases from all five domains in both 6-month-old and 12-month-old patients with hypothyroidism was higher than the control group, but this difference was not statistically significant. The relationship between hypothyroidism, gestational age, birth weight, sex, TSH, FT4, age of onset of treatment, duration of drug use on overall performance at 6 months and 12 months was performed with binary logistic regression test which did not show a significant relationship (All P values<0.05).