Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about hypothyroidism in children. If you want to follow along with written notes on this topic,

you can follow along at zero to finals.com or in the endocrinology section of the Zero to Finals

Pediatrics book.

So let's get straight into it.

Hypothyroidism in children can be congenital or acquired.

Thyroid hormone is essential for the development and functioning of the brain and the body.

Undiagnosed hypothyroidism can lead to significant problems with neurodevelopment and intellectual disability. First, let's talk about congenital hypothyroidism. Congenital hypothyroidism is where the child

is born with an underactive thyroid. This occurs in around one in 3,000 newborn babies. It can be the result of an underdeveloped thyroid. This occurs in around 1 in 3,000 newborn babies. It can be the result of an underdeveloped

thyroid gland, which is called dysgenesis, or a fully developed gland that does not produce

enough hormone, which we call dyshormonogenesis. Very rarely it can be the result of a problem with the

pituitary or the hypothalamus. And this usually occurs without other problems and the

cause is not clear. Congenital hypothyroidism is screened for on the newborn bloodspot screening

test. Where it's not picked up at birth, patients can present later with prolonged

neonatal jaundice, poor feeding, constipation, increased sleeping and reduced activity, and slow

growth in development. Let's let's talk about acquired hypothyroidism.

Acquired hypothyroidism is where a child or adolescent

develops an underactive thyroid gland

when previously it was functioning normally.

The most common cause of acquired hypothyroidism

is autoimmune thyroiditis, also known as Hashimoto's thyroiditis. This causes autoimmune

inflammation in the thyroid gland and subsequently underactivity of the gland. It's associated with

...