Estimation of cord blood TSH level in a tertiary care hospital in Uttarakhand

Abstract

Introduction: Thyroid hormone is essential for growth and responsible for development of the brain. Congenital Hypothyroidism, which is defined as deficiency of thyroid hormone, is the commonest cause of the preventable mental retardation among children. In the general population, screening for congenital hypothyroidism remains one of the most cost-effective tools to prevent mental retardation. Aims and Objective: To estimate the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone level in the birth canal (cord blood) of early neonates. Materials and Methods: A Prospective observational study was conducted over a period of six month from January to July 2018 at Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical & Health Sciences, Dehradun. The study group comprising the 303 neonates irrespective of gender, neonates of the Diabetic mothers, eclampsia, and hypertensive mothers were excluded. Serum sample extracted from cord blood was utilized for the estimation of the TSH by processing in the dry chemistry analyzer of Ortho-clinical diagnostics VITROS 5600. Result: It was found that the female neonates are less prone to have congenital hypothyroidism, with having TSH levels of <10 mIU/ml in about 80% of samples while on the other hand males are having TSH levels of <10 mIU/ml in about 62% of samples. Conclusion: We concluded that the male neonates prone to have Congenital Hypothyroidism more.