The effect of receiving thyroid hormone replacement on the dysphonia severity index for congenital hypothyroid children

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Dysphonia is a common compliant in hypothyroid patients. Subjective voice changes could be clearly found in congenital hypothyroid children (CHC); however, the early treated children with thyroid hormone replacement (THR) may not experience dysphonia. The objective of this study is to determine if the CHC who were receiving early THR would have objectively measurable changes on vocal function as assessed by the dysphonia severity index (DSI). Methods Participants were 29 children aged from 6 to 12 years. Fifteen children had congenital hypothyroidism on eltroxin therapy started before the age of 1 year and 14 were typically developing children (TDC). All children did not have voice compliant. DSI was calculated for all children through the measure of maximum phonation time (MPT), highest frequency (F0-high), lowest intensity (I-low), and jitter percent (j %). Results CHC receiving early THR were not significantly different from TDC on DSI value; however, both groups showed significant difference on MPT and F0-high. Degree of voice changes by DSI in males was significantly higher than females in CHC on eltroxin therapy while no significant difference regarding gender has been found on DSI in TDC. Conclusions The results suggested that there is no evidence of DSI objective voice changes in CHC receiving THR compared to TDC, yet separate objective voice measures alternations had been found in CHC. This highlights the importance of achieving efficient neonatal screening programs for CHC and providing strong support to initiate early THR to avoid any alternation of laryngeal function.