Abstract
Newman et al. (1) have described a factitious increase in thyrotropin in 2 infants and their mothers, detected by newborn screening using a blood-spot thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) assay. The authors do not positively identify the cause of this increase in TSH, but they describe its disappearance from one infant’s serum as consistent with an immunoglobulin. Most cases of a factitious increase in TSH in newborns are attributable to the presence in sera of heterophilic antibodies. Equipment manufacturers, to protect their assays from these effects, include nonimmune serum or immunoglobulin in their reagents, giving a very low incidence of TSH increase. Newman et al. suggest that their case is unusual because no treatments were administered to the mother that would account for the increased TSH, and she had not been exposed to animals. A similar …
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