Iodine and selenium deficiency associated with cretinism in northern Zaire.
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.
Vanderpas
J B
JB
Public Health School, Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
Contempré
B
B
Duale
N L
NL
Goossens
W
W
Bebe
N
N
Thorpe
R
R
Ntambue
K
K
Dumont
J
J
Thilly
C H
CH
Diplock
A T
AT
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*
D007455:Iodine; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D012643:Selenium