Congenital hypothyroidism, even when detected and treated early, still leads often to hearing and speech problems. We have evaluated the lower auditory pathway status of a significative group of these children under thyroid hormone therapy with the brain stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) technique. Thirty-four (34) hypothyroid and 24 age-sex matched euthyroid children aged between 5 and 12 years old have been evaluated. BAEP abnormalities were found in 21 hypothyroid children (62%): first, prolonged peak latencies were observed in 9 children with 2 of them also showing prolonged I-V interpeak latency (IPL) and, secondly, shortened wave I latencies and shortened I-III, III-V, I-V IPLs were observed in 15 children, 3 of them also displaying prolonged wave I or III latencies and therefore also being included in the first group. The children with prolonged latencies were referred for other audiometric evaluations. On the other hand, we would be inclined to speculate on a relationship between the abnormally short BAEP latencies and the elevated levels of thyroxine determined in the treated hypothyroid children. However, more data are needed to go further in the interpretation. These preliminary results indicate a high incidence of BAEP abnormalities in a significant number of hypothyroid children under early replacement therapy.
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