Screening for congenital hypothyroidism in the Russian Federation

Abstract

Background. Neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) allows the timely diagnosis of disease and onset of replacement therapy. Analytical research in the field of health care provides the basis for making managerial decisions, in particular by public authorities.
 Objective — the study objective was to analyze the results of neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism in the Russian Federation.
 Material and methods. We analyzed reports of local health authorities (LHAs) on the results of activities of regional medical and genetic services, which were monthly submitted to the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The reports included the number of newborns, examined newborns, and newly diagnosed CH cases.
 Results. According to the results of neonatal screening, the rate of CH detection in the Russian Federation was 1 case per 3,617 newborns (maximum, 1 per 2379; minimum, 1 per 4752 in different federal districts). The coverage of neonatal screening for CH in the Russian Federation varies by years and regions, from 67.9% (1997) to 99.8% (2012) and from 81.7% (North Caucasian Federal District) to 99.9% (Central Federal District). With the percentage of newborn screening coverage more than 70%, each additional coverage percent results in detection of 6—7 new CH cases.
 Conclusion. The conducted analysis indicates the need for further studying the features of congenital hypothyroidism incidence in different regions of the Russian Federation and improving organizational processes of neonatal screening for CH.