Endemic goitre among undernourished schoolchildren in eastern Caprivi, Namibia.

A cross-sectional study on a 20% random sample of 380 children, aged 6-18 years, from 8 primary schools in the Cuando River area of eastern Caprivi, Namibia, was done to determine the prevalence of goitre and to investigate related hormonal and nutritional factors. Of the children 34,5% had goitre. Reduced plasma free thyroxine concentrations in the more severely goitrous children, compared with matched non-goitrous children (P=0,0007), implicated dietary iodine deficiency as the causative factor