Pulmonary Hypertension and Hypothyroidism—Still an Important Clinical Coincidence in Paediatric Population, an Endocrinologist’s Point of View

TL;DR

This paper reviews the connection between hypothyroidism and pulmonary hypertension in children, highlighting the need for multidisciplinary care.

Contribution

The paper emphasizes the clinical relevance of hypothyroidism and pulmonary hypertension co-occurrence in children despite being excluded from recent classifications.

Findings

The coexistence of hypothyroidism and pulmonary hypertension in children is clinically significant.

Multidisciplinary care is often needed due to frequent comorbidities in these patients.

Abstract

There is limited data on hypotheses linking autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) and hypothyroidism with pulmonary hypertension (PH). Moreover, the prevalence of this coincidence, as well as the possible common pathogenic mechanisms, are even less explicit in paediatric population. We present a review of recently published articles regarding relatively large cohorts of children with PH, coming from paediatric PH registries, aiming to clarify the coincidence of PH and AITD, especially hypothyroidism, and discuss its possible mutual impact. Although thyroid disorders have been excluded from the latest PH classification, it is still important to remember the possibility of this coincidence as it may significantly influence patients’ clinical outcome. Moreover, children with PH may need multidisciplinary care due to the relatively frequent coexistence with not only hormonal abnormalities but also growth impairment, genetic disorders, and mental delay. Further specific paediatric studies are needed to improve the care in this rare disease, especially in patients with other comorbidities present.

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