Iodine status and thyroid volumes of school age children from Northern Cyprus

In an epidemiological study carried out in eight different inland and coast al areas from northern part of Cyprus Island 625 School Age Children (SAC) aged 9 and 10 years, underwent thyroid ultrasonography for determination of thyroid volume (TV). Urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was measured from morning urine samples taken from all of the children. Mean TV was 3.2+/-1.0 ml, 3.3+/-0.8 ml and 3.8+/-1.1 ml, 3.7+/-1.1 ml for 9- and 10-year-old gir ls and boys respectively. None of the SAC had TV exceeding recommended uppe r limits for their age and gender. Median UIC of the whole group was 120 mu g/l (11-900 mu g/l) and only 12.6 % of the SAC had UIC below 50 mu g/l ind icating adequate iodine intake. In this first epidemiological survey conduc ted in the northern part of the Cyprus Island, iodine status was found to b e satisfactory and goiter does not pose a public health problem at the time of the study. Periodical surveys are required especially for the regions w hich have marginally adequate values and for a coastal region with a signif icantly higher median value of UIC compared to the others tie 458 mu g/l) ( p<0.001). (J. Endocrinol. Invest. 23: 74-77, 2000) (C)2000, Editrice Kurtis .