The prevalence of Congenital Hypothyroidism in Rafsanjan in Southeast Iran During 2017-2019

Background: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is one of the most common endocrine diseases in newborns.Epidemiologic studies are very important to carry out more preventive assessments.This study evaluated the prevalence of CH in Rafsanjan in southeast Iran during 2017-2019.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, we used the data collected from the CH screening of newborns in Rafsanjan, Kerman Province, Iran.The study population was 18832 newborns who had undergone a CH screening program according to the standard CH screening protocol in a public health center from March 2017 to March 2019.Diagnosed CH cases were compared with healthy newborns using chi-square.Results: Overall, among this population, 94 cases were diagnosed with CH during the years 2017 to 2019.The prevalence of CH in Rafsanjan city was 4.99 per 1000 live births during 3 years.The frequency of thyroid dysfunction in the mother and birth weight under 2500 were higher among the CH group than the non-CH group (P < 0.001). Conclusions:The study findings showed that the frequency of thyroid dysfunction in the mother and birth weight under 2500 were higher among the CH group than the non-CH group.Further studies with individual data and longitudinal are suggested to be more confident about the causality of the association.