OptiThyDose: Intelligent Digital Decision Support Tool to Personalize Dosing for Children with Thyroid Diseases

Thyroid under- or overfunction, respectively known as hypo- and hyperthyroidism, often manifests at birth or in childhood and severely impacts the lives of those afflicted. Thyroid hormones are essential in regulating children’s growth and development and their dysregulation is responsible for many conditions such as Hashimoto’s or Graves’ disease. In paediatric patients experiencing these conditions, treatment via hormone supplementation or antithyroid drug administration must be promptly and adequately implemented. However, providing a personalized treatment option for each patient is not exempt from challenges: the severity of the disease varies among individuals and the pharmacological response to treatment is affected by patient’s age and developmental stage.

The aim of this research consortium is to validate a decision support tool, dubbed “OptiThyDose,” to monitor and personalize therapy dosing for paediatric patients afflicted by thyroid diseases. This tool iteratively computes individual dose regimens based on the patient’s age, weight and disease severity, supported by routinely collected clinical and laboratory data. An international collaboration between the paediatric endocrinology centres in Basel, Paris, Rome, Yerevan and Cape Town will facilitate the assessment of potential benefits brought by OptiThyDose across different settings. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to individualise and optimize therapy dosing of thyroid disorders in children in order to support their health outcomes independently of their socio-economic status.