All issues > Volume 33(10); 1990

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1990;33(10):1394-1398. Published online October 31, 1990.

Thyroid function Study in Respiratory distress Syndrome.

Sung Soo Kong¹, Mi Young Chung¹, Dong Hyunk Kum¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Koryo General Hospital, Seoul, Korea

Received: May 3, 1990;  Accepted: July 2, 1990.

Abstract

It has been known that intrauterine thyroid hormone deficiency may be one of the factors predis- posing to RDS in premature infants. L-thyroxine has been shown to increase the production opf lung surfactant, widely accepted as deficient in RDS infants, as association between lung immaturity and fetal thyroid function is postulated. The authors investigated thyroid hormone concentration at birth and 5, 15 days of age, in healthy premature infants and RDS infants. The results were as follows: 1) At birth, infants with RDS had significantly lower serum levels of T3 compare to healthy premature infants, but T4, TSH, T4RU, FT4I was slightly decreased. 2) At 5 days of age, infants with RDS showed significantly lower serum levels of T3, T4, FT4I, but TSH and T3RU were not significant difference. 3) At 15 days of age, infants with RDS and healthy premature infants were not significant differance. The thyroid hormone concentrations at birth and at 15 days of age in preterm infants suffering RDS were comparable with those observed in healthy premature infants, whereas the day 5 T3, T4 concentrations and FT4I values were significantly lower. TSH concentrations were normal at each sampling interval. These observations support the view that the postnatal depression of thyroid function is secondary to respiratory distress syndrome.

Keywords :Respiratory distress syndrome, Thyroid hormone