Prevalence of Goiter and its relationship with thyroid function test in primary school children aged 6-12 years in Semnan (2006)

Introduction: Goiter is the enlargement of thyroid gland and is the most common disorder of the thyroid. Patients with goiter are usually euthyroid (simple goiter), but they may be hyperthyroid or hypothyroid. Since, proper diagnosis and treatment of goiter can prevent the morbidity of the disorder the current study was performed to determine the prevalence of different types of goiter in school children in Semnan following 16 years of the production and providing iodized salt. Materials & Methods: In this survey, 9708 school children, aged 6-12 years old, were studied. Firstly, children with goiter were identified and then their thyroid function tests including T4 and TSH carried out, and the different types of goiter were determined according to the tests results. Results: The prevalence of goiter was 3.5% in school children, aged 6-12 years old 4.1% and 3% in girls and boys, respectively. The prevalence of hyperthyroid, hypothyroid and euthyroid was respectively 8.9%, 28.9% and 62.1% amongs girlsr, whilst those were 9.2%, 25.7% and 65.1% in boys. The greatest number of children who suffered from goiter was the 8 years old students. The greatest number of hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism was observed in 10 years old and in 8 years old children, respectively. Conclusion: These finding revelaed that that the campaign launched to prevent iodine deficiency by iodinating table salt has been highly effective after 16 years from the beginning of this campaign and the international standards for preventing disorders resulted from iodine deficiency have been achieved in the city of Semnan.