Croatia has reached iodine sufficiency

Abstract

This study was performed in 2002, 6 yr after the introduction of a new regulation on salt iodination with 25 mg KI/kg of salt. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether further significant positive results of improved iodine intake could be observed among schoolchildren in Croatia. A total of 927 schoolchildren of both sexes, aged 6-12 yr, were included in the study. In Croatia, with a population of 4,437,460 the research was implemented in four major geographical regions: the Northwestern, Slavonia, Northern Adriatic and Dalmatian regions. Investigations included randomly selected pupils from regional centers and neighboring smaller towns or villages. The results have revealed that thyroid volumes were within the normal range according to the provisional WHO/ICCIDD reference values for sonographic thyroid volume in iodine-replete school-age children, updated in 2001. A significant improvement in medians of urinary iodine excretion was detected in 2002: from 9 microg/dl in 1991 to 14.6 microg/dl in Zagreb, from 4.3 microg/dl in 1995 to 13.1 microg/dl in Split, from 9.4 microg/dl in 1997 to 14.2 microg/dl in Rijeka and from 13.4 microg/dl in 1997 to 14.7 microg/dl in Osijek. An overall median of 14.0 microg/dl of urinary iodine excretion was detected in Croatian schoolchildren. The control of salt at different levels, from production to consumption, including salt produced in all three Croatian salt plants and imported salt, revealed that Croatian salt is adequately iodized. From severe iodine deficiency before the 1950s, through mild-to-moderate iodine deficiency in the 1990s, Croatia has now reached iodine sufficiency.

RETRACTED: A novel concept to derive iodine status of human populations from frequency distribution properties of a hair iodine concentration

“…All the subjects were fed their usual home prepared mixed diet, and reported no adverse medical conditions. In Croatia dietary salt is regularly iodized and today Croatia is categorized as a country having an optimal urinary iodine (UI) excretion of 100-199 µg•L -1 [13,14].Hair analysis was performed by following the International Atomic Energy Agency recommendations [15] and other validated analytical methods and procedures [16]. Approximately 0.5 -1.0 g of the hair was cut off from the occipital head region above the protuberantia occipitalis externa, and stored in numbered envelopes and kept refrigerated at 4 °C before they were randomly assigned for analysis.…”

Goiter Prevalence and Urinary Iodine Concentration in Slovenian Adolescents

“…This is most probably the consequence of the fact that there is an intra-and interday variability of urinary iodine concentration in an individual (20,21). Despite this, it is well established that urinary iodine concentration measurements in a single urine sample are very useful in epidemiological studies in population samples of appropriate size (3,15,22,23).…”

Quantitative Analysis of Galectin-3 Expression in Benign and Malignant Thyroid Nodules

“…The number of samples from patients with follicular thyroid carcinoma was small in our study, which represents a limitation. Incidence of follicular carcinoma is low in Croatia, probably due to complete iodine intake sufficiency, and this study was performed on an unselected group of patients with thyroid nodules, so we could not increase the proportion of patients with follicular thyroid carcinoma ( 30 ).…”