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LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
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Year : 2019 | Volume
: 16
| Issue : 3 | Page : 144 |
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Cord blood thyroid-stimulating hormone as a screening tool for congenital hypothyroidism: A single-center 5-year experience
Mahmood Dhahir Al-Mendalawi
Department of Paediatrics, Al-Kindy College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
Date of Submission | 17-Aug-2019 |
Date of Acceptance | 23-Aug-2019 |
Date of Web Publication | 18-Nov-2019 |
Correspondence Address: Prof. Mahmood Dhahir Al-Mendalawi Department of Paediatrics, Al-Kindy College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, P.O. Box 55302, Baghdad Post Office, Baghdad Iraq
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/trp.trp_36_19
How to cite this article: Al-Mendalawi MD. Cord blood thyroid-stimulating hormone as a screening tool for congenital hypothyroidism: A single-center 5-year experience. Thyroid Res Pract 2019;16:144 |
How to cite this URL: Al-Mendalawi MD. Cord blood thyroid-stimulating hormone as a screening tool for congenital hypothyroidism: A single-center 5-year experience. Thyroid Res Pract [serial online] 2019 [cited 2022 Jun 28];16:144. Available from: https://www.thetrp.net/text.asp?2019/16/3/144/271155 |
Sir,
It is worthy to comment on the interesting study by Bhatia and Rajwaniya published in the May–August 2019 issue of Thyroid Research and Practice.[1] The authors constructed normative values of cord blood thyroid-stimulating hormone (CBTSH) in a cohort of the Indian neonates and found that a cutoff CBTSH value >20 IU/ml could be used as a screening tool for congenital hypothyroidism (CH).[1] The authors mentioned that the main limitation of their study was that despite being a 5 years' project, the sample size was relatively small as the number of deliveries was less due to it being a private college.[1] I assume that the following methodological limitation is additionally contributing in casting suspicions on the study results. It is explicit that among many determinants, ethnicity has been noticed to be a significant determinant in the formulation of reference values of thyroid hormones.[2],[3] It has been suggested that ethnicity could impose differences in thyroid physiology, and hence, ethnic diversity within populations ought to be considered when constructing and interpreting screening thyroid-stimulating hormone cutoffs.[3] To my knowledge, India is a multiethnic country. The authors did not address the exact ethnic standards of the studied cohort. In spite of study limitations, the reported reference ranges for the CBTSH[1] could help in early detection of neonatal CH and ultimately, guiding proper therapy.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
References | |  |
1. | Bhatia R, Rajwaniya D. Cord blood thyroid-stimulating hormone as a screening tool for congenital hypothyroidism: A single-center 5-year experience. Thyroid Res Pract 2019;16:76-9. [Full text] |
2. | Önsesveren I, Barjaktarovic M, Chaker L, de Rijke YB, Jaddoe VW, van Santen HM, et al. Childhood thyroid function reference ranges and determinants: A literature overview and a prospective cohort study. Thyroid 2017;27:1360-9. |
3. | Peters C, Brooke I, Heales S, Ifederu A, Langham S, Hindmarsh P, et al. Defining the newborn blood spot screening reference interval for TSH: Impact of ethnicity. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2016;101:3445-9. |
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