Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of levothyroxine sodium on preterm infants with hypothyroidism

Haimei Jiao¹, Peng Yu² , Jia Feng¹, Bingjin Zhang¹, Jingjing Li³, Xuexiang Li¹

¹The Frist Department of Pediatrics, Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, Shandong Province 257000, China; ²Department of Child Rehabilitation and Health, Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, Shandong Province 257000, China; ³Department of Pediatric Clinic, Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, Shandong Province 257000, China.

For correspondence:- Peng Yu Email: yupeng_dr@163.com Tel:+8613210328060

Accepted: 29 May 2023 Published: 30 June 2023

Citation: Jiao H, Yu P, Feng J, Zhang B, Li J, Li X. Effect of levothyroxine sodium on preterm infants with hypothyroidism. Trop J Pharm Res 2023; 22(6):1305-1311 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v22i6.21

© 2023 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of levothyroxine sodium on preterm infants with hypothyroidism.

Methods: The study involved a total of 96 preterm infants with hypothyroidism who were admitted to the Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, from January 2020 to October 2021. These patients were divided randomly into a study group and control group with 48 patients in each group. The control group was given routine treatment, while study group received levothyroxine sodium tablets orally. Growth and development (height, and weight), mental development index (MDI score), psychomotor development index (PDI score), and thyroxine levels (thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (FT3), and free thyroxine (FT4)) between both groups were recorded.

Results: After treatment, thyroxine indices in both groups were significantly improved, but the indices in study group were better than in control group (p < 0.05). Growth, mental and psychomotor development indices in the improved groups were improved, but the improvements in the study group were significantly better than in control group (p < 0.05). The overall response rate (ORR) in the study group (93.75 %) was significantly higher than in the control group (77.08 %; p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Levothyroxine sodium improves growth, mental and psychomotor development, and thyroxine level in preterm infants with hypothyroidism. This protocol will benefit from further large-scale investigation prior to application in clinical practice.

Keywords: Levothyroxine sodium, Preterm infants, Hypothyroidism, Mental development, Psychomotor development, Thyroxine