Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Pediatric Endocrinology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1498788

Evaluation of thyroid function tests among children with neurological disorders

Provisionally accepted
Haojie Meng Haojie Meng 1*Francis Manyori Bigambo Francis Manyori Bigambo 2Wei Gu Wei Gu 2*Xu Wang Xu Wang 2,3*Yang Li Yang Li 4*
  • 1 Department of Child Health, Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Clinical Research Center, Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
  • 3 Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
  • 4 Department of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Thyroid hormones (THs) are essential for brain development.Numerous studies have identified significant links between thyroid dysfunction and cognitive function. However, research on the significance and necessity of thyroid function tests in diagnosis of neurological disorders is limited and subject to controversy.Our study employed a combination of meta-analysis and case-control design. For the meta-analysis, we conducted a systematic search of online databases for studies that compared thyroid function tests in children with neurological disorders to controls. In our case-control study, we recruited a total of 11836 children, comprising 7035 cases and 4801 healthy controls. Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test was used to determine characteristics of thyroid function between the cases and healthy controls.In order to exclude the false discovery rate (FDR), the Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) procedure is applied.Results: A total of 12 relevant literature sources were included in the meta-analysis.Compared with controls, free thyroxine (FT4) levels were significantly decreased in neurological disorders in meta-analysis (MD = -0.32, 95% CI: -0.57 to -0.06), whereas thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels showed no significant difference (MD = -0.07, 95% CI: -0.36 to 0.21). In our case-control study, levels of free thyroxine (FT4), total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroxine (TT4), and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (TG-Ab) were notably reduced among individuals with neurological disorders, compared with healthy controls (P ＜ 0.001, P ＜ 0.001, P=0.036, P=0.006). However, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels did not show any statistically significant differences among the cases and controls.Conclusions: Our research demonstrates that, in comparison to controls, children with neurological disorders exhibited a significant decrease in FT4 levels, while TSH levels remained unchanged. This finding provides a reference for potential serum marker of neurological disorders in children. Replication in future studies with the assessment of THs is needed to determine whether thyroid function should be included as a routine screening in these children.

    Keywords: neurological disorders, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Thyroid Function Tests, Children

    Received: 19 Sep 2024; Accepted: 15 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Meng, Bigambo, Gu, Wang and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Haojie Meng, Department of Child Health, Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210017, Jiangsu Province, China
    Wei Gu, Clinical Research Center, Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
    Xu Wang, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
    Yang Li, Department of Neurology, Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.