Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Iodine deficiency is one of the most important cause of mental and physical disorders and is considered a public health issue. Previous studies reported the existence of iodine deficiency in several regions in Romania and its related negative side effects on children’s health. Therefore, Romania has implemented the universal salt iodisation (USI) since 2002.

Aim: The present study aimed to assess the current iodine status in Romanian school-aged children.

Subjects and methods: The study analysed data from a nationally representative sample – 624 children, aged 6–7 years old, covering 15 Romanian counties. Urinary iodine was measured using spectophotometric method, with ceramic ammonium sulphate. The iodine status of the target population was apreciated comparing the median urinary iodine value of the urine samples with WHO standards. The study was approved by the Local Ethics Committee. An informed consent from the parents was obtained.

Results: The median iodine value of 255.3 μg/l reflects a more than adequate iodine status of the surveyed population. The mean value of urinary iodine (275.6 μg/l) and its standard deviation (133.22 μg/l) showed a large dispersion of the results. Data were analysed and disscused in the context of previous studies. We report here a significant improvement in the iodine status of the children in Romania, reflecting an appropriate iodised salt household consumption.

Conclusions: In Romania, there is currently no iodine deficiency among school children in the context of the universal salt iodisation. In order to ensure an adequate prophylaxis of mild iodine deficiency, continuous iodine monitoring is required among schools in all urban and rural areas, and to correlate the iodine values with the other markers of iodine deficiency (neonatal TSH, thyroid volume).