DOI: 10.36347/sjmcr.2020.v08i02.002

Pages: 106-112

Background: Congenital Hypothyroidism most common preventable cause of mental retardation with incidence of 1:2500 to 1:2800 live births. Early diagnoses is crucial, thus various screening programs were initiated. Neonatal screening programs include either cord blood TSH at birth or heel prick TSH at 24-48 hours of life. However these studies are influenced by multiple maternal and perinatal factors thus yielding false high positive results. Objectives: Our study objectives were to study the relationship between cord blood TSH taken at birth and heel prick filter paper TSH that is taken at 24-48 hours of life routinely for neonatal screening, and to compare the influence of perinatal factors on both levels. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study in the regular nursery at Makassed General Hospital (MGH). We included 252 live newborns delivered between November 2016 and February 2017 and between November 2018 and February 2019. Blood was drawn directly at birth from the maternal side of the umbilical cord for cord TSH and another sample was drawn at 24-48 hours of life from heel prick for neonatal screening TSH. The two samples were then compared in light of perinatal factors. Results: Cord blood TSH values were found to be normal limits in neonates, not affected significantly with any of the prenatal factors studied as for maternal age, mode of delivery, gender, birth weight, gestational age, birth order, pregnancy course, and maternal illness. None of the studied parameters had a significant effect on heel prick TSH. Cord blood TSH was of average=6.8 in comparison to heel prick TSH average=5 (P-value <0.0001) but still within normal levels. Comparison between the Cord-Heel TSH differences was not significantly affected by any of the above parameters. Conclusion: Cord blood TSH has the advantage of being easy to collect, non-invasive, and has better compliance from the parents. This study showed that there is no influence of any prenatal stressful...........