Prevalence of iodine deficiency among goiterous school children

Abstract EN

Objective: To evaluate the frequency of goiter and iodine deficiency in a group of school children aged between eight to ten years in Tafilah Governorate. Methods: A total of 210 school children aged between eight to ten years (110 females and 100 males) were clinically evaluated for thyroid enlargement.

Urinary iodine excretion level were estimated for the (76) subjects found to have thyroid enlargement (48 females and 28 males) during the period between Is' January to 30th July 2000.

Thyroid gland size was assessed and classified using the palpation method as recommended by the WHO. Results: The total goiter frequency rate was 36.2%.

It was more common in females than in males (p=0.03).

About 23.6 % of these children had iodine deficiency; Children 10 years of age had the highest frequency of iodine deficiency (p=0.03), whereas children aged 8 years had the lowest frequency.

Severe iodine deficiency was not detected in this study sample while moderate iodine deficiency was found in 7.8%, and mild deficiency was found in 15.7%. Conclusion: Goiter is still high among Tafilah school children with iodine deficiency accounting for less than one fourth of cases.

The vast majority of cases however are due to other unidentified causes.

Identification of these causes would be essential for efforts to combat this health problem in Jordan.