Incidence of Congenital Hypothyroidism in Western Rajasthan Using Cord Blood Thyroid-stimulating Hormone Levels as a Screening Tool: A Cross-sectional Hospital-based Study.

Background: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is considered the most common preventable cause of intellectual impairment, with a worldwide annual incidence of 1:4000 live births. In the absence of screening program actual incidence in India is not exactly known, but in previous studies it varies from 1:500 to 1:3400. We wished to find out the incidence of CH in Western Rajasthan using cord blood TSH as a screening tool and venous TSH within 14 days of life as a confirmatory test.