title: Ouham-Pendè: a new endemic goiter area in Centro-African Republic (C.A.R.). Preliminary observations on school children.
abstract: In this work, the Authors make several epidemiological observations and report a series of biohumoral data relative to a new endemic goiter area in the north-western region of the Centro-African Republic (CAR). In this province whose chief-town is Bocaranga, living conditions are very poor and primitive, manioca being the staple food. The survey was carried out in 11 rural schools and in 2 schools in the chief-town; 4009 subjects were examined; 2839 were males, 1170 females. The goiter prevalence observed in the whole sample population was 79.75%. The prevalence for each step of the grading were: 34.6% for 1a; 32.9% for 1b; and 11.8% for 2. In the schools of the chief town the goiter prevalence was found to be significantly lower than in the rural schools (71.9% versus 83.6% with P less than 0.01). Being the goitrous F/M ratio equal to 1.041, the goiter prevalences and gradings in females were higher and more severe than in males. After calculating these differences by means of the cumulated frequencies and the Kolmogorov Smirnov test, they were found to be significant. In 45 goitrous subjects, high TSH (7.19 microU/ml +/- 5.1), T3 (1.65 ng/ml +/- 0.56), and TG serum levels (410 ng/ml +/- 280) were found; however, low normal levels were observed for rT3 (8.97 ng/dl +/- 7.5) and fT4 (0.50 ng/ml +/- 0.51). In 42 casual urine samples, iodine excretion was 23.2 micrograms/l +/- 12.8; thyocianate excretion was 9.72 mg/l +/- 6 with a I/SCN ratio = 2.38.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Genoa University, Italia.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Biassoni
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schenone
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bertocchi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mela
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balestra
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002488:Central African Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006042:Goiter / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors; D013954:Thyroglobulin / Q000032:analysis; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000032:analysis; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000032:analysis; D014284:Triiodothyronine / Q000032:analysis; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D014284:Triiodothyronine; D013972:Thyrotropin; D013954:Thyroglobulin; D013974:Thyroxine