Congenital Hypothyroidism

Congenital hypothyroidism is the most frequent congenital endocrine disorder and prevent‐ able cause of mental retardation. The remarkable irreversible mental damage can be avoided by the replacement therapy introduced before the age of 3 weeks. Therefore a screening program implemented in the early seventies to pick up the affected babies on the first weeks of life [1,2]. After pilot studies started in 1977 a national neonatal TSH screening program was introduced in Hungary in 1982 [3]. It has continued in two centers from 1984 covering the whole country (50-50 % of the expected newborns were assigned to one lab). Patients screened and confirmed as CH were followed-up at the endocrine outpatient clinics. Replacement was adjusted according to the laboratory results and somatic-mental development of the child. The authors (two pediatric endocrinologists and one psychologist) have worked together in this project throughout 26 years in one of these centers. They present their experiences with the screening program and the endocrine/psychological follow-up gained during this period discussing the results with literature data.