title: Iodine and selenium deficiency associated with cretinism in northern Zaire.
abstract: Selenium status was determined in an endemic-goiter area and in a control area of Zaire. Compared with the reference values of a noniodine-deficient area, serum selenium in subjects living in the core of the northern Zaire endemic-goiter belt (Karawa villages) was seven times lower in 52 school-children and similarly low in 23 cretins; erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase (RBC-GPX) was five times lower in schoolchildren and still two times lower in cretins (P = 0.004). In a less severely iodine-deficient city of the same endemia (Businga), selenium status was moderately altered. RBC-GPX activity was linearly associated with serum selenium concentration up to a value of 1140 nmol/L and leveled off at approximately 15 U/g Hb at greater selenium concentration. At Karawa villages, selenium supplementation normalized both the serum selenium and the RBC-GPX. This combined iodine and selenium deficiency could be associated with the elevated frequency of endemic myxedematous cretinism in Central Africa.
authors.affiliation: Public Health School, Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Vanderpas
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Contempré
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Duale
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Goossens
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bebe
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thorpe
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ntambue
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dumont
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Thilly
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Diplock
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003409:Congenital Hypothyroidism / Q000209:etiology*; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000201:enzymology; D005260:Female; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000209:etiology; D007455:Iodine / Q000172:deficiency*; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012643:Selenium / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency*
chemical_list: D007455:Iodine; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D012643:Selenium