RESUMEN

The results of thyroid volume estimation with the aid of ultrasound in a total of 921 boys and girls 6-16 years of age are reported. The thyroid volume was found to be increasing slowly between the age of 6 and 12 years, but somewhat more remarkable increase occurred at 13 and 14 years of age. However, in both sexes it was nearly doubled at the age of 15-16 years as compared with the values at 13-14 years irrespective of body weight. The thyroid growth rate (as calculated from the least squares analysis of the correlation between thyroid volume and body weight) in girls was significantly higher (P less than 0.001) than in boys. In spite of long-term mandatory iodine prophylaxis the average urinary excretion of iodine as estimated in 69 randomly selected subjects was 78.06 micrograms/g creatinine (geometrical mean). It may be suggested that such intake of iodine, though marginally deficient, may be satisfactory up to the age of about 12-14 years, while it appeared to be inadequate for the adolescents at the age of puberty.

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RESUMEN

Thyroid volume by ultrasonographic volumetry was estimated in a total of 427 boys and 425 girls aged 7 to 16 years from East Slovakia. It was found that the volume is increasing by age and body weight, being in average about 2.5 ml in 7-8 years old, 3.5 to 4.5 ml in 9-12 years old, 5.2-6.0 ml in 13-14 years old and, as reported previously, 11-12 ml in 15-16 years old. Comparing these results to the findings reported from other countries, it may be concluded that in 13-14 years old schoolchildren the thyroid volume was about twice as high as reported for the same age group from Sweden (with presumably sufficient iodine intake) and by about 20 percent less than found in 13 years old schoolchildren in Federal Republic of Germany (with insufficient iodine intake). The average thyroid volume found in pubertal adolescents aged 15-16 years closely resembled that found in Federal Republic of Germany and was even higher than that found in adults from Sweden and Netherlands where the iodine intake is considered to be sufficient. Palpatory findings according to WHO scale showed 21 percent of goiter stage 1a in boys aged 7-14 years and 24 percent in girls of the same age group, while such values were 23 and 27 percent for boys and girls aged 15 and 16 years, respectively. In addition, in those aged 15-16 years about 3 percent of goiter stage 1b were found, while in those aged 7-14 only 3 cases of goiter stage 1b out of 425 examined were observed. It may be concluded that the present status of thyroid size in examined group closely resembles the first grade endemy of goiter as defined recently by Hetzel and, moreover, it may be suggested that the intake of iodine about 100 micrograms daily (which was recently reported by other authors from Czechoslovakia as based on urinary excretion of iodine) apparently does not fully prevent the development of goiter stage 1 in a considerable amount of children and adolescents.

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Thyroid volume was examined by ultrasonography in 207 boys and 220 girls aged 15-16 years from East Slovakia and it was found that 49.3% of the boys and 52.3% of the girls had thyroids between 10 and 15 ml. These thyroid volumes resemble those found in school children from areas of mild iodine deficiency (e.g. FRG) and are twice as large as those reported from Sweden, where iodine intake is sufficient. The findings were compared to these reported by others in 1949-53 before the introduction of iodine prophylaxis. It may be concluded that 40 years of goiter prophylaxis with iodized salt, though resulting in urinary excretion of approximately 100 micrograms/24 hr (as found by others in 1984), abolished large and medium size goiters in adolescents and decreased a prevalence of goiter grade I to about 25 percent, but appeared still to be insufficient to prevent goiter grade I completely.

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