Press Release

Update on results of blood samples for thyroid function test

16 August 2012

A spokesman for the Department of Health (DH) today (August 16) provided an update on the test results of blood samples of infants aged one to eight months who have been taking infant milk formulae with low iodine content. Further to the 99 blood samples tested last week, six more samples were tested with results available today. Five of them were normal while one test result revealed that the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level was slightly above the reference range but its thyroxine (free T4) level was normal.

The spokesman said, "The Hospital Authority (HA) specialists and DH have preliminarily reviewed the case history. The infant concerned has been predominately on breast-feeding till now and only consumed Morinaga infant formula occasionally. Given the dietary history, the cause of elevated TSH is less likely due to the infant formula concerned and the cause requires further investigation. ”

DH has informed the parent of the test result and the infant concerned has been referred to the HA paediatric specialist clinic for follow-up.

The latest update took the total number of blood samples for thyroid function tests to 105, of which 103 were normal. Apart from the above-mentioned result which is over the TSH reference range, another result available earlier revealed that the TSH level was slightly below the reference range and the infant concerned was also referred to the paediatric specialist clinic of the HA for follow-up.