ANAMNESIS, CLINICAL AND PARACLINICAL CHARACTERISTIC OF CHILDREN WITH AUTOIMMUNE THYROIDITIS

Purpose. To conduct a comparative characterization of anamnesis and clinical and paraclinical data of children suffering from autoimmune thyroiditis and those with no thyroid pathology in order to optimize early diagnosis of the disease. Materials and Methods. This examination was carried out on 132 children (55 boys and 77 girls) diagnosed with autoimmune thyroiditis at the age of 11.68±0.35.  For comparison, 577 children (268 boys and 309 girls) without thyroid pathology at the age of 11.49±0.17 were included in the control group. Statistical study techniques were applied using the licensed software package Statistica. The differences of р<0.05, р<0.01, р<0.001 were considered statistically significant. Results. The comparative study of children diagnosed with autoimmune thyroiditis and those with no thyroid pathology showed that euthyroidism was diagnosed in 78.31% of patients in the primary observation group, hypothyroidism in 17.39%, and hyperthyroidism in 4.3% of patients. Children diagnosed with autoimmune thyroiditis showed thyroperoxidase antibody levels ranging from 209.7 to 694.7 IU/mL, TSH from 0.01 to 5.93 to 89.9 IU/mL, and free T4 from 1.14 to 28.8 ng/dL. The criteria for early diagnosis of autoimmune thyroiditis included: a burdened familial history of thyroid disease (15.9%); complaints of psychoemotional, neurological (35.6%) and heart rhythm disorders (14.4%), predominantly in boys (58.2% and 18.18%), prolonged low-grade fever (5.3%), predominantly in girls (6.5%); comorbid conditions: respiratory tract diseases (25.76%) and lymphadenitis (28.03%); ultrasonic changes of the thyroid gland with increased (31.06%) or decreased (4.55%) volume, cystous nodules (40.15%), increased vascular pulsation (39%) and changes in echogenicity of the thyroid gland. Conclusion. At the current stage, early diagnosis of autoimmune thyroiditis in children is important for the timely prevention of the negative impact of the disease on the functional state and development of the child's body.