Hypothyroidism cases rise among city kids

After researchers attached to the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) found that 1 in 900 kids in the city were born with hypothyroidism, the call for newborn screening (NBS) has become louder.

This is particularly alarming given than the global incidence is 1 in 2,500 children. Releasing the results of the data collected from Chennai, principal investigator Dr S Suresh said, “This has only emboldened us to say that NBS has to be made mandatory, because conditions such as these, if detected, can be treated and the child can have an almost-normal life.” Other cities where the study was conducted are Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The other disease that was screened for is congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which was found in 1 in 2,000 children, as opposed to a global standard of 1 in 4,500. In Chennai, among 30,514 samples that were screened, 37 babies were confirmed with hypothyroidism and treatment was started. All the samples were taken from the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecologyof MMC.

Hypothyroidism is a treatable condition which can do irreversible damage to the growing brain of the infant. It can cause developmental delay and mental retardation. Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia is a potentially lethal disorder which may cost the lives of babies, more so male babies. Dr S S Agarwal, who leads the taskforce as chairman, said, “Now that we have exact numbers, we must do more research to find out why it is so high — whether it is region specific or environmental or genetic.”

There were a few more diseases that needed to be added to the group of diseases for which mandatory NBS should be done, Dr Suresh said: “The cost for doing tests to detect five disorders that can be treated is about `1,200, but the fact is that very few people opt for it. This is something that our study will urge the government to look into.”