Autoimmune thyroid disease in children with mongolism.

Thyroid function in mongol children has attracted the attention of investigators for many years. Certain clinical similarities between mongolism and cretinism have led, not only to misdiagnosis, but even to the suggestion that altered thyroid function might play a part in the clinical manifestations of mongolism. Much of the earlier use of thyroid therapy in patients with this syndrome was based on this assumption. The results of thyroid function studies in patients with mongolism have been controversial; some have been suggestive of thyroid insufficiency, whereas others have been more in keeping with thyroid overactivity (Kurland et al., 1957; Jackim, Wortis, and Adesman, 1961). However, most patients are clinically euthyroid, and, so far, no conclusive evidence of altered thyroid function in this group of patients has been presented. The purpose of this paper is to report 3 cases of mongolism with coexisting hyperor hypothyroidism, and to present the growing evidence for a relation between mongolism and thyroid autoimmunity.