Thyroid gland disorders in African children.

Although endocrine disorders are uncommon in black African children, thyroid gland disorders made up 37 percent of all types of 27 endocrine disorders seen at University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria over a five-year period. The age range of the children was four months to 14 years. Diagnoses largely depended on clinical acumen and a few simple laboratory tests. Even the patients with congenital thyroid gland disorders tended to present late with florid classical clinical features, including disturbances of physical and mental development.