Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Iodine deficiency is a common problem of public health that usually causes thyroid enlargement called goiter. It is estimated that 750 million people worldwide are at risk of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD). IDD can be presented with a wide variety of clinical manifestations, which induce congenital anomalies, cretinism, deaf mutism, psychomotor defects and severe goiter.

About 17 years after the initiation of salt iodization in Iran, this study considered the prevalence of goiter and possible association between BMI and it in school children in Isfahan, Iran.

Methods and materials: In this cross sectional study, 2293 school children aged 6–13 were enrolled by multi-stage random sampling. The exclusion criteria were: a history of exposure to radioactive iodine, thyroid surgery or significant underlying disease such as cardiopulmonary, liver or renal problems based on available medical records and interviews with parents and teachers. Then goiter grading was done by inspection and palpation of it according to recommended criteria of WHO/UNICEF/ICCIDD.[Grade 0: No palpable or visible goiter; Grade1: thyroid is palpable but not visible when the neck is in the normal position; Grade 2: A swelling in the neck that is clearly visible when the neck is in a normal position and is consistent with an enlarged thyroid when the neck is palpated.]. Weight and standing height were measured. Height was recorded to the nearest 0.1 cm and weight was recorded to the nearest 100 g. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated using the following formula: BMI=weight (Kg)/height (m) 2.

Results: The mean age± SD was 9.39±1.18 years for girls and 9.47±1.12 years for boys and female to male ratio was 1.6. Overall had goiter (33.1%) that 39.5% of them were boy and 60.5% were girl. Goiter prevalence among girls was 32.4% while 33.7% of boys were goitrous (P=0.518).

The mean ± SD of BMI in the goiterous and non-goiterous children were 15.59±2.31 and 16.98±3.35 respectively(P=0.00).

Conclusion: Our study showed goiter is still prevalent between Iranian children and BMI was significantly less in goiterous than in nongoiterous children. Therefore there is an association between BMI and goiter. More researches should be done to distinguish this possible connection.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector