RESUMO
PURPOSE: We did the IQ test to find out the effectiveness of the early treatment in children with congenital hypothyroidism. METHOD: The KEDI-WISC (Korean Educational Development Institute-Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) was carried out in the 45 patients, who were diagnosed as congenital hypothyroidism from March, 1991 to September, 2001 at the Soonchunhyang University Hospital and were treated soon after the diagnosis for at least 5 years after treatment. RESULTS: The proportion of male to female was 1:1.25 and the mean age at the diagnosis was 40.6+/-23.4 days and the 32 patients (71.1%) were diagnosed before the age of six weeks. There was 18 cases (40.0 %) of thyroid dyshormonogenesis, 16 cases (35.6%) of thyroid hypoplasia, 8 cases (17.8%) of ectopic thyroid and 3 cases (6.7%) of thyroid aplasia. The IQ scores of all children, except two, were in the normal range in terms of total, language and motor accomplishment. And there were no significant differences in both sex, age at diagnosis and causes. CONCLUSION: The IQ test revealed that the scores of most patients treated from early life under the impression of congenital hypothyroidism were in the normal range regardless of sex, age at diagnosis and causes.