Thyroid volumes and iodine status in Egyptian South Sinai schoolchildren

Abstract

IntroductionThe determination of goitre prevalence in children by ultrasonography is an important tool for considering iodine deficiency disorders. Our objective was to describe measurements of thyroid volumes by ultrasonography in Egyptian South Sinai schoolchildren and compare these with the WHO/International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders normative thyroid volume criteria (WHO/ICCIDD).Material and methodsCross-sectional thyroid ultrasonographic data of 719 schoolchildren (339 boys and 380 girls), aged 6-12 years from five cities in South Sinai (El Tur (T), Abu Redis (R), Ras Sudr (S), Saint Katherine (SK), and Nwebaa (N)). Age/sex and body surface area/sex specific upper limits (97th percentile) of normal thyroid volume were derived and urinary iodine (UI) was measured.ResultsThe median value of urinary iodine was 150 µg/l. Comparing WHO/ICCIDD thyroid volume references to Egyptian South Sinai schoolchildren resulted in goitre prevalence of 10.6% using age/sex specific and 13.48% using body surface area/sex specific cut-off values. The prevalence of goitre was 20.0% in S, 16.3% in R, 10.8% in N, 9.9% in T, and 10.5% in SC. Upper limits of normal (97th percentile) thyroid volume from South Sinai schoolchildren calculated using BSA, sex, and age were higher than the corresponding WHO/ICCIDD.ConclusionsPrevalence of goitre is high in South Sinai schoolchildren. The body surface area reference should be preferred to the reference based on age. South Sinai schoolchildren had larger thyroids than WHO/ICCIDD thyroid volumes, perhaps due to hard polluted water with a high fluorine level.

Prevalence of Visual Impairment and Refractive Errors in Children of South Sinai, Egypt

“…The high rate of exophthalmos noted in this study could be due to the high incidence of goiter secondary to iodine deficiency reported in South Sinai. 26 Significant improvement in visual impairment prevalence (p50.0001) occurred when eyeglasses were prescribed, prepared and delivered to any child having one or both eyes with VA56/12. WHO guidelines state that most individuals with presenting VA56/18 and !3/60 require spectacles, surgery (e.g.…”

Evaluation of the effectiveness of iodine prophylaxis in Poland based on over 20 years of observations of iodine supply in school-aged children in the central region of the country

“…Results obtained in this way (Table I) erroneously suggest that there is still goitre endemicity in the study population. The fact that the reference data were developed based on examinations carried out in a supine position may be the possible cause of this inconsistency [14, 20, 21]. Such a discrepancy may also result from different methods of measurement and associated inter-observer and intra-observer errors [20].…”

The Validity of a Health Education Program in Prevention and Increasing Awareness of Some Prevalent Health Problems among Children at Remote Areas in South Sinai

“…South Sinai was selected for the present work as it has the highest prevalence of goiter in Egypt (Yamamah et al 2013) and many skin diseases were also reported to be prevalent (Yamamah et al 2012). Within S.Sinai, children of Ras Sidre were reported to have the highest prevalence of both groups of diseases.…”

“… Study design: Prospective cohort study.  Study site: Ras Sidre district was selected as it has the highest prevalence of goiter accounting for 20.0% (Yamamah et al 2013). It also has the highest rates of skin diseases among S.Sinai children (Yamamah et al 2012).…”

“…Goiter prevalence in S.Sinai using current WHO/ICCIDD recommended cutoff values was estimated to be 13.6% (15.1% for males and 12.4% for females). The highest distribution of goiter was recorded at 20.0% in Ras Sidre (Yamamah et al 2013).…”