Summary
In the community of P., a formerly severely endemic area of the Klatovy region, 213
school children (100 boys and 113 girls) aged 7 to 13 years were examined after more
than 20 years of iodisation of table salt. The size and type of goitre was examined,
height and body weight and urinary iodine excretion were assessed. The same examinations
were made for comparison in 194 children (76 boys and 118 girls) in a Prague school,
i.e. in ah non-endemic area.
The somatic development of the children from the endemic area, expressed as height
and body weight, was retarded in relation to the development of children from Bohemia
as a whole and in particular when compared with Prague children. In both groups only
small diffuse goitres were observed or small nodular goitres, contrary to the period
before the onset of iodisation when at that age medium-sized diffuse and nodular goitres
were frequent.
The difference in the prevalence of goitre in both groups was significant in 8–9-year-old
children of both sexes. In girls it persisted to the age of 10 years, there was considerable
nodulation. In boys from the endemic area goitre was found in 34.0%, in girls in 40.7%,
nodulation was observed in boys in 14.0% and in girls in 18.7%, while in Prague the
corresponding values in boys were 19.7% (and 3.9%, resp.) and in girls 20.3% (and
6.8%, resp.).
The mean values of urinary iodine excretion varied in both areas and in the two sexes
between 30.0 and 230.0 jig/1.
Association revealed a statistically significant relationship between iodine excretion
and the presence of goitre in boys and girls of the endemic area and boys from Prague.
It was revealed that dietary iodine deficiency remains a permissive factor in the
development of goitre and is more marked in former endemic foci. Prevention by iodised
table salt protects newborn infants, but does not prevent the development of goitre
in all subjects in the course of development of the organism. The possibility of reinforced
iodisation in treated areas deserves consideration.
Key words
Iodine Prophylaxis - 20 years - Incomplete Prevention of Goitre
