Effects of iodine deficiency on mental and psychomotor abilities.
Severe iodine deficiency may lead to endemic cretinism, which is characterized by a number of abnormalities, such as mental retardation, neurological abnormalities and hearing disorders. These abnormalities may occur in various combinations, but impaired mental development is always a component. The present study was attempted to determine whether there is also evidence of mental retardation, perhaps to a lesser degree, in that part of the population that manifest no symptoms of cretinism, the non-cretins, in an iodine-deficient area. Results of an extensive test battery have been collected in two village populations: one village in an area with severe iodine deficiency and a control village in a non-iodine-deficient area. Both villages were situated in Central Java, Indonesia. In the selected villages the total population between the ages of 6 and 20 years participated in this study. No evidence of significant mental retardation has been detected in the non-cretin group in the severely iodine-deficient area. Significant differences between the two populations, however, have been found with regard to a number of perceptual and neuro-motor abilities.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003409:Congenital Hypothyroidism / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006043:Goiter, Endemic / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000209:etiology*; D007455:Iodine / Q000172:deficiency*; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000209:etiology*
D007455:Iodine