Bone mineral density of children and adolescents with congenital hypothyroidism

A cross sectional study was made on 60 patients (9.9 +/- 1.8 yr-old) with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) (group A): 40 girls (23 prepubertal) and 20 boys (18 prepubertal). Control group (group B) was constituted of 28 healthy children (10.4 +/- 2.1 yr-old): 18 girls (8 prepubertal) and 10 boys (9 prepubertal). Aims: To evaluate bone mineral density (BMD) and content (BMC) and to correlate them with chronological and bone age (BA), sex, sexual maturation, I-T-4 dose, TSH, TT4, FT4, and CH etiology. BA, total body BMD, and BMC (DXA) were obtained of both groups. TSH, TT4, and FT4 were measured in patients only. BMD was lower in group A (0.795 +/- 0.075 g/cm(2) VS. 0.832 +/- 0.092; p = 0.04) and higher in pubertal than in prepubertal girls (p = 0.004). There was no significant difference between BMD and BMC related to sex and CH etiology. Our data demonstrated that BMD was significantly lower in children with CH, different from what has been published in the literature.