Non-thyroid Disease Syndrome and Other Thyroid Function Anomalies in Ecuadorian Newborns with Early and Late Neonatal Sepsis

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess thyroid function in newborns with early and late neonatal sepsis by measuring T3, T4, and TSH. This study included 80 newborns with a diagnosis of neonatal sepsis divided into two groups: early neonatal sepsis and late neonatal sepsis, which during the clinical and laboratory manifestations of sepsis showed changes in thyroid hormones, particularly low T3 syndrome and low T3-T4. It excluded newborn children of mothers with thyroid disease and those with a history of perinatal asphyxia, congenital defects, and previous major surgeries. Development of the non-thyroid disease syndrome was confirmed in both study groups, with a prevalence of 54.2% for neonates with early neonatal sepsis and 80.95% for neonates with late neonatal sepsis. It also found low T3 in neonates with early neonatal sepsis and low T4 syndrome in neonates with late sepsis. Low levels of thyroid hormones are associated with a worse prognosis and a poor evolution in severely ill neonates. In Ecuadorian preterm infants with a mean gestational age of 32 weeks, the non-thyroid disease syndrome was found in 54.24% of the patients with early neonatal sepsis and in 80.95% with late neonatal sepsis. TSH levels are decreased in 11.86% of neonates with early neonatal sepsis and 10% in patients with late neonatal sepsis. All cases were children born of adolescent mothers with or without ruptured membranes, from urban areas of Quito.