Endocrine Abstracts

The aim of the study was to determine level of trace elements and whether it is related to the growth in children with goitre. The study was performed in children of ages 6–12 years. Goitre staging was performed according to the WHO criteria. A total of 86 cases, 55 with goitre and 31 as control group, were included in the study. When parameters were compared in cases with and without iodine deficiency, TSH and FT3 levels were determined significantly higher in cases with iodine deficiency. TT3, FT4 and TT4 values were in normal ranges and there were no significant differences between the two groups. In cases with iodine deficiency, selenium (Se) level was detected as low, zinc (Zn) level was high but there was no significant difference between manganese (Mn), iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) levels. When parameters were compared in cases with and without goitre, no difference was detected in TT3, TT4 and FT4 values while TSH and FT3 values were significantly higher in cases with goitre. Serum selenium level was detected lower in cases with goitre but no statistically significant differences were detected in the levels of other trace elements between the two groups. It was also observed that height standard deviation score (height SDS) and body weight standard deviation score (weight SDS) of cases with goitre were negatively affected in cases with advanced stage of goitre. Statistically significant positive correlation was found between height SDS and serum Zn, Se, Cu, Fe and ferritin. Zn was found to be the most influential trace element for height SDS. A negative correlation was found between height SDS, weight SDS and Mn. A positive statistically significant correlation was found between weight SDS and Se, Zn, Fe and Cu levels, Se was observed to be the most influential trace element for weight SDS. Trace elements have an important role for height and weight gain. Importance of nutrition, trace element intake and iodized salt usage should be explained to families.