Thyroid Awareness Month: 2001
Thyroid Through the Ages: Birth & Early Childhood (Growth)
Birth
In North America, routine screening for hypothyroidism is conducted two days after birth by administering a heelpad test to uncover cretinism, a growth and mental disorder brought on by a lack of thyroid hormone. If left untreated, a baby with hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) could suffer from severe retardation, growth and structural defects or dwarfism.
- One out of every four to five thousand babies born in the U.S. has hypothyroidism.
- Neonatal hyperthyroidism is rare and usually occurs only in infants born of mothers with Graves' disease. If hyperthyroidism is severe at birth, babies can be born with prominent eyes, irritability, flushed skin and a fast pulse.
Children
Parents need to be aware that thyroid disorders may also appear later in their child's development. Although thyroid disease occurs less frequently in children and teenagers than in adults, it is still considered a common cause of disease in these age groups. Difficulty concentrating and inattentiveness in school, unexplained change in grades, hyperactivity, or unexplained daytime fatigue, may all be symptoms of an underlying thyroid condition. Children who come from families with a history of thyroid disease are especially likely to develop thyroid disorders.
- Hypothyroidism is more commonly found in children with diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and Down's Syndrome.
- Children with hypothyroidism are not likely to complain of feeling sick or to ask for help. They do not know what "normal" is, so even older children may simply accept the emotional and physical problems as "normal."
- Hyperthyroid children will rapidly outgrow new clothes while undiagnosed hypothyroid children will experience delayed growth.
- An enlarged thyroid, or development of a goiter, is often the first sign of thyroid disease. The most common cause of goiters in children and teenagers is Hashimoto's disease, a chronic inflammatory disease of the thyroid.
- Additional symptoms include delayed puberty, delayed eruption of permanent teeth, short-term memory loss, shaky hands and poor handwriting, dry and itchy skin, and increased sensitivity to cold and heat.
Previous Thyroid Awareness Month Campaigns
- Thyroid Awareness Month 2007 How's Your Thyroid - Who needs to know?
- Thyroid Awareness Month 2006 A Thyroid Imbalance? Target Your Numbers
- Thyroid Awareness Month 2005 A Healthy Thyroid: You Make The Difference
- Thyroid Awareness Month 2004 Take Control of Your Health: Keep Your Thyroid in Balance
- Thyroid Awareness Month 2003 Thyroid Undercover Hiding in Plain Sight
- Thyroid Awareness Month 2002 The Necks Generation
- Thyroid Awareness Month 2001 The Necks Time is Now Think Thyroid
- Thyroid Awareness Month 2000 Take Cholesterol by the Neck
- Thyroid Awareness Month 1999 Thyroid: The Missing T in HRT
- Thyroid Awareness Month 1998 When the Blues Hit
- Thyroid Awareness Month 1997 1995 Not available on AACE Online