STUDIES IN CRETINISM AND HYPOTHYROIDISM IN CHILDHOOD

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Abstract
This study on the basis of blood cholesterol hasas its objective, first, the establishment of an additional method for regulating thyroid therapy and, second, an improved understanding of the clinical course of the thyroid deficient child. As these children are followed from month to month, it is apparent that the basal metabolic rate, as ordinarily determined by present methods in young children, is unreliable. The basal metabolic rate, although valuable, is not a specific test and, as Du Bois1indicated in cretinism, the comparison with normal standards often presents great difficulties. The basal metabolic rate, therefore, should not be the principal guide in the progress of these patients. Furthermore, clinical impressions have many limitations. In searching for an additional aid in determining the dosage of thyroid medication to a less empirical extent and the progress and prognosis in the thyroid deficient child, I had my attention called to the