Comparative analysis of the effects of iodine prophylaxis in children and adolescents from the region of Szczecin

Abstract The research on iodine metabolism carried out in the '80s and '90s of the twentieth century revealed moderate iodine deficiency in the area of the whole Poland. These results contributed to the introduction of the populational iodine prophylaxis programme consisting in the obligatory iodizing of kitchen salt. In 2002-2003, the research was conducted in the region of Szczecin, the aim of which was to assess the efficiency of this model of iodine prophylaxis. As it was observed, the incidence of goitre among children considerably reduced, however, determination of ioduria (iodine level in the urine) proved that slight iodine deficiency was still present. The aim of our research was the renewed assessment of iodine prophylaxis results in the randomly chosen group of children and adolescents from the region of Szczecin. The study was undertaken in the 2006. In random selected groups of children and adolescents in Szczecin region. The patients administered vitamins or minerals enriched with iodine were excluded from a study. The study included 314 persons aged 13 to 16 years, 151 boys (48%) and 163 girls (52%). Iodine excretion with urine was determined on the basis of catalytic Sandell-Kolthoff reaction. Radioimmunometric and radioimmunological methods were used for the determination of thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT) concentrations. Collected data were then analyzed using sophisticated computer-based statistic program. In the research conducted in 2002-2003, median urinary iodine concentration was 81.6 microg/l, and the percentage of children with abnormal ioduria excedeed 65%, where slight iodine deficiency (50-100 microg/l) was observed in 43% of children, medium (20-49 microg/l)--in 19%, and serious iodine deficiency (