Characterization of Hashimoto´s thyroiditis in Sudanese children: a cross-sectional study at Gaafar Ibnauf Hospital, Khartoum.

INTRODUCTION: literature on Hashimoto´s thyroiditis, the common thyroid illness in the young populations, in Sudan and Africa is scarce. We aimed to study its clinical profile and outcome among Sudanese children and adolescents.

METHODS: records of 73 patients were reviewed. Data related to demographics, presenting features, family history and coexistence of autoimmune diseases, physical examination findings, and biochemical progression over time were obtained.

RESULTS: patients´ mean age at the diagnosis was 10.6 ± 2.9 years, 80.8% (n = 59) of them were female and 83.6% (n = 61) were residing in iodine-sufficient areas. The commonest presenting features were thyromegaly and fatigability (79.5%, n = 58 and 43.8%, n = 32, respectively) after an illness duration of 0.5-48 months. Autoimmune comorbidities were documented in 8.2% (n = 6) of our series and more than half (53.4%, n = 39) of them were pre-pubertal at the diagnosis. Sixty point three percent (60.3%) (n = 44), 20.5% (n = 15), 13.7% (n = 10) and 5.5% (n = 4) of patients presented with overt hypothyroidism, sub-clinical hypothyroidism, euthyroidism and hyperthyroidism respectively, and there were no significant differences in the clinical profile between them. In patients' continued follow-up, 94.1% (n = 32/34) of those presented with overt hypothyroidism required levothyroxine therapy to maintain euthyroidism for 0.5-13 years, while 85.7% (n = 6/7) of those with euthyroidism remained so for 0.5-6 years. Remission was reported in all hyperthyroid patients and in only 5.9% (n = 2/34) of those with overt hypothyroidism at diagnosis. The majority of our patients with subclinical hypothyroidism were treated with levothyroxine and continued to be euthyroid for 10 months to 13 years.

CONCLUSION: goiter was the commonest presenting feature of Hashimoto´s thyroiditis. The majority of patients had overt or subclinical hypothyroidism and almost all of them required long-term levothyroxine therapy.