STATUS OF IODINE NUTRITION IN FRANCE - RE SULTS OF THE THYROMOBILE PROJECT IN 6-YEAR TO 14-YEAR OLD SCHOOLCHILDREN

The ''Thyromobile'' project was initiated to update information on iod ine supply in school-children aged 6-14 years in Europe. It involved 4 places in France: Lorraine, Rhone-Alpes, Languedoc-Roussillon, Midi-P yrenees. Schools of the three former places had been investigated in 1 986 during the Mornex's study whereas in the latter they had never bee n investigated in the past. With a mobile unit, all children (n = 1522 ) had a thyroid echography performed by the same trained was determine d in 1458 of them. The mean +/- SD of urinary iodine concentration was 13.0 +/- 7.4 mu g/dl, but 38% of urinary iodine concentrations were b elow 10 mu g/dl and 10% were under 5 mu g/dl. The prevalence of goitre was 4.1% in boys and 3.1% in girls. There was a negative correlation between urinary iodine concentration and thyroid volume (p < 0.001). T herefore, the results of the ''Thyromobile'' project show that the pla ces, investigated in France, are not in an area of endemic goitre due to iodine deficiency. However, other epidemiological studies must be d one to provide further information about iodine supply in all parts of France.