[The evaluation of goiter frequency and iodine prophylaxis efficiency in children population in Wielkopolska area from 1992 to 1998].

The aim of the study was to compare the current state and efficiency of iodine prophylaxis during the last six years. The study included 800 children from the rural and urban area (462 children in 1992 and 338 children in 1998) with the proportional sex and age (8-13 years) distribution, 24.936 newborns (9875 in 1992/1993 and 15.061 - mostly in the early part of 1998). The thyroid size (by USG), serum thyroglobulin (TG) concentration, urinary iodine (UI) concentration, %age of neonatal-TSH above 5 micro U/ml were evaluated using current ICCIDD and WHO criteria. The prevalence of goiter detected in children population in 1992 was 26% (recount by current criteria), in the early part of 1998 it was reduced to 21%. Parallelly, mean urinary iodine concentration increased from 49 micro g/l to 79 micro g/l. The reduction of goiter prevalence was associated with the reduction of mean serum thyroglobulin concentration from 26 ng/ml to 18 ng/ml. In the group of newborns the %age of TSH results above 5 micro U/ml decreased from 6 to 2.6%. Generally, the study proved significant increase of iodine prophylaxis efficiency in Wielkopolska Region in the period of the last six years, but it is still the area with mild iodine deficiency, which suggests the necessity of using other forms of iodine prophylaxis except for salt iodization. The obtained results suggest the necessity to extend the study on the role of other goitrogenic factors, which are probably present in the whole Wielkopolska Region.