Developmental screening of children with congenital hypothyroidism using Ages & Stages Questionnaires test.

  Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is one of the most common causes of mental retardation in children. This study investigated the developmental status of children with CH screened by Ages & Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) measurement scores. In this retrospective study, neurodevelopmental status of 78 children diagnosed with CH who being followed up at the outpatient Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic of Besat Hospital, Hamadan, Iran, was evaluated by ASQ method. Data on age, sex, birth body weight, height and head circumference, residency location, parental education level, primary venous TSH and T4 level, diagnosis age, treatment start age and initial levothyroxine dosage were extracted from medical records .Data analyzed using statistical software SPSS v16. P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Of the 78 patients (34=43.6% female), 32 patients (41%) had developmental disorder. 56 cases (71.8%) were living in urban areas. In terms of type of developmental impairment, global delay: 13 patients (40.6%), problem solving: 11 patients (34.3%), communication: 5 patients (15.6%), fine motor: 2 patients (6.2%) and personal-social: 1 patient (3.1%) were detected. The average of diagnosis and treatment age was 25.65 days in patients with developmental impairment and 17.99 days in those without delay. ASQ results had significant statistical correlation with initial dose of levothyroxine (p=0.017), hypothyroidism diagnosis age (p=0.002) and age of treatment initiation (p=0.018). Early diagnosis and treatment along with initial L-thyroxin dose were most important factor of ASQ scores of children with CH. Higher amounts of the LT4 is required at onset.