Part of “CHAPTER 47 – THYROID DISORDERS OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD“

Goiter in the pediatric patient is not rare. The incidence in school-age children and adolescents is between 3.9% and 6%.26 The most common cause is chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis (autoimmune or Hashimoto thyroiditis).27 Chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis (see Chap. 46) is the single most frequent thyroid disorder seen in pediatric patients and is the most common cause of acquired hypothyroidism. Colloid or simple goiter is the second most common cause of euthyroid goiter.