Neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: eight years' experience.

This report demonstrates the prevalence of primary congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and summarizes the laboratory data. Neonatal thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) was measured in whole blood drawn between the 3rd and 5th days of life and spotted on filter paper using the fluorometric assay. Among the 87,061 neonates, 22 had CH, 13 dysgenetic forms, and nine with thyroids in situ. No differences were found between the two types in terms of TSH and total T4 concentrations. However, thyroglobulin was significantly lower in patients with dysgenetic thyroid tissue (p=0.0023). We conclude that the prevalence of CH in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is 1:3,957 newborns.