ESPE Abstracts

Background: Screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in the Russian Federation started in 1994. A survey was conducted in 1994 on the basis of 32 laboratories, and since 2007 newborn screening is being carried out in 79 laboratories of 83 regions of the Russian Federation.

Objective and hypotheses: To study the prevalence of CH in Russia and in different regions of the Russian Federation.

Method: Official statistics on CH screening in Russia from Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation was gathered and analyzed, data includes 1997–2012.

Results: The average percentage of coverage of newborn screening CH in Russia in 1997 was 66.9%; by 2002 it had increased to 91.5 and to 99.6% by 2012. The number of detected cases of CH in Russia is growing annually. It is connected not only with the increase of the percent coverage of newborn screening, but with the increase of the birth rate in Russia (2002 – 1 396 967 newborns; 2012 – 1 896 263 newborns). The total number of detected cases of CH in 1997 reached 273 newborns; in 2012 was 512 newborns. The prevalence of CH (at the screening of more than 90% newborns) decreased slightly from 1:3278 (2002) to 1:3689 (2012). During the analyzed period more than 21 951 000 children were born, over 19 620 000 newborns were examined by the screening programme, 5345 children with CH were identified. The prevalence of CH during the analyzed period varied across regions of Russia: Central Federal district – 1:3750; North-West Federal district – 1:4232; South Federal district – 1:4260; North-Caucasian Federal district – 1:4452; Volga Federal district – 1:3316; Urals Federal district – 1:2274; Siberian Federal district – 1:4010; Far-Eastern Federal district – 1:4495.

Conclusion: Average frequency of CH in Russia is 1:3600 newborns. These values are comparable to data from the EU and the USA.