Introduction: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) and thyroid illnesses are common pediatric diseases. However, to date their link is not well-studied.
Aim: To study thyroid hormone levels in children with interstitial lung disease (chILD) and to assess the relationship between thyroid hormone abnormalities and disease severity.
Method: This is a case-control pilot study that was conducted on 25 patients with chILD and 25 healthy controls recruited from Pulmonology clinic, Children's Hospital Ain Shams University during the period from October 2023 to April 2024. History taking and clinical examination, FEV1%, and FVC %, oxygen saturation, chest computed tomography and FT3, FT4 and TSH were done for the patients and control.
Method of Selection: consecutive sample method.
Results: Mean ±SD of weight SDS (-0.68±3.26) and height SDS (-1.6±2.2) were statistically significantly lower in chILD patients compared to controls (1.3±0.69 & 1.17 ±0.81 respectively) (p < 0.0001). Symptoms suggestive of thyroid hyperfunction were higher in patients than in controls as weather intolerance (48% vs. 0%) (p < 0.0001) and weight loss (32% vs. 0%) (p = 0.002). Free T3 levels were normal yet statistically significantly higher in patients (3.379 ± 0.6900 pg/L) compared to controls (2.099 ± 0.4552 pmol/L) (p < 0.0001). TSH levels were normal yet not statistically significantly lower in patients (1.880±0.8447) than in controls (2.058 ± 0.4821). Mean ±SD of FEV1 % was 41.00 ± 15.51, FVC % was 46.27 ± 14.92, and MEFF % was 26.30 ± 17.44. Oxygen saturation was 93.00 ± 3.041% at rest and 88.48 ± 3.938% during exercise. No correlation was found between thyroid hormone levels and spirometry values, clinical severity, or oxygen saturation.
Conclusion: Children with chILD may exhibit symptoms of thyroid gland dysfunction in the form of (heat intolerance, cold intolerance, weight loss and weight gain) and have normal thyroid hormone levels. Further research is needed to explore the relation between thyroid hormones and chILD.