SUCCESSFUL STRUGGLE AGAINST IODINE DEFICIENCY DISORDERS (IDD) IN CROATIA

In Croatia a law requiring obligatory iodination of all salt with 10 m g KI pel hg of NaCl was proclaimed in 1953. After first ten years of i mplementation a threefold reduction of goiter prevalence was recorded. Presented study indicates that, four decades later; mild iodine defic iency still persists, keeping goiter prevalence among schoolchildren b etween 8% and 35%. In continental parts of Croatia 69% to 86% of child ren had urinary iodine excretion above 5 mu g/dL, while only 17% to 34 % had it above 10 mu g/dL. In Zagreb, 5% to 13.2% of children had thyr oid volumes above the upper limits for their age. Control of salt prod uced in Fag revealed the average KI value of 8.3 mg/kg. On the basis o f these results Croatian Ministry of Health proclaimed on October 9, 1 996, a new regulation requiring 25 mg KI in each kg of NaCl.