Characterization of Hashimoto´s thyroiditis in Sudanese children: a cross-sectional study at Gaafar Ibnauf Hospital, Khartoum.

Abstract

literature on Hashimoto´s thyroiditis, the common thyroid illness in the young populations, in Sudan and Africa is scarce. We aimed to study its clinical profile and outcome among Sudanese children and adolescents. records of 73 patients were reviewed. Data related to demographics, presenting features, family history and coexistence of autoimmune diseases, physical examination findings, and biochemical progression over time were obtained. patients´ mean age at the diagnosis was 10.6 ± 2.9 years, 80.8% (n = 59) of them were female and 83.6% (n = 61) were residing in iodine-sufficient areas. The commonest presenting features were thyromegaly and fatigability (79.5%, n = 58 and 43.8%, n = 32, respectively) after an illness duration of 0.5-48 months. Autoimmune comorbidities were documented in 8.2% (n = 6) of our series and more than half (53.4%, n = 39) of them were pre-pubertal at the diagnosis. Sixty point three percent (60.3%) (n = 44), 20.5% (n = 15), 13.7% (n = 10) and 5.5% (n = 4) of patients presented with overt hypothyroidism, sub-clinical hypothyroidism, euthyroidism and hyperthyroidism respectively, and there were no significant differences in the clinical profile between them. In patients' continued follow-up, 94.1% (n = 32/34) of those presented with overt hypothyroidism required levothyroxine therapy to maintain euthyroidism for 0.5-13 years, while 85.7% (n = 6/7) of those with euthyroidism remained so for 0.5-6 years. Remission was reported in all hyperthyroid patients and in only 5.9% (n = 2/34) of those with overt hypothyroidism at diagnosis. The majority of our patients with subclinical hypothyroidism were treated with levothyroxine and continued to be euthyroid for 10 months to 13 years. goiter was the commonest presenting feature of Hashimoto´s thyroiditis. The majority of patients had overt or subclinical hypothyroidism and almost all of them required long-term levothyroxine therapy.