Secondary hypothyroidism in infancy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Delineating the clinical and biochemical characteristics of children with central congenital hypothyroidism born in England, and pathways to treatment.
IRAS ID
327057
Contact name
Tim Cheetham
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Thyroid hormone is produced by the thyroid gland and is needed for normal growth and brain development. A small number of babies cannot make thyroid hormone normally because the thyroid gland has not developed properly or because it cannot manufacture thyroid hormone in the normal way. This is called primary congenital hypothyroidism (CHT). Less commonly the thyroid gland is normal but is not stimulated normally by the pituitary gland in the brain. This disorder is called central congenital hypothyroidism (CeCH). There is a screening programme for primary CHT in the UK that relies on detecting elevated thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations but there is no UK programme for detecting CeCH. This is in contrast to countries like the Netherlands and some parts of the United States where there is a screening programme for both primary CHT and CeCH. One way of screening for CeCH is to measure thyroid hormone concentrations on a blood spot sample but this is not an easy thing to do.
We would to look in more detail at babies with CeCH born in four paediatric endocrine centres in England. We are interested in determining how and what age these babies presented to health care teams, their thyroid hormone concentrations at presentation and whether the babies have any associated problems.
We hope that this project will provide greater insight into the clinical journey to diagnosis in CeCH and information regarding their longer term outcome. This study will also provide insight into the potential benefits of screening for CeCH in the UK as well as insight into some of the associated problems.REC name
North East - York Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NE/0137
Date of REC Opinion
12 Jul 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion