High prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism in Isfahan: Do familial components have a role?

BACKGROUND: Despite elimination of iodine deficiency, the rates of both permanent and transient congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in our study were higher than the comparable worldwide rates, which emphasize the major role of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of CH and many studies in this regard confirm this possibility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this review, we report all studies that established during CH screening program regarding familial and genetic component of the disease. RESULTS: Although we could not entirely ignore the possible role of environmental and autoimmune factors in the development and function of thyroid gland, our findings strongly suggest the role of genetic factors as dominant etiologic factor in CH. CONCLUSION: The studies support the existence of a familial component of CH involving dominant genetic predisposition factors with a low penetrance. Considering the polygenic/multifactorial basis of CH, they suggest the possible involvement of other unknown genes in the pathogenesis of the disease, which may also follow non-Mendelian pattern of inheritance.