Iron deficiency in goitrous schoolchildren of Semirom, Iran.
BACKGROUND
Iodine deficiency produces the spectrum of iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs): endemic goiter, hypothyroidism, cretinism, and congenital anomalies. Other factors, including goitrogens and micronutrient deficiencies, may influence the prevalence and severity of IDDs and response to iodine supplementation. This cross-sectional, descriptive study was performed in 2003 on elementary school children of Semirom, a mountainous region of Iran, where goiter was hyper-endemic in 1994, but the goiter prevalence had not decreased as expected many years after salt iodization and iodine injection. Some possible risk factors associated with goiter in that area were evaluated, and the results of iron study are presented here.


METHODS
1,869 cases were selected by a multistage cluster sampling procedure. Grade 2 goitrous children were compared with equal number of nongoitrous children for serum iron, ferritin, transferrin, thyroxin, TSH and urine iodine concentrations (UIC).


RESULTS
210 children (105 goiter grade 0 and 105 goiter grade 2) entered this sub-study. Of 210 participants, 70 children had low transferrin saturation, 13 had low serum ferritin and 9 children had both problems. There was no significant difference in goiter rate between children with low iron indices and others. There was no significant correlation between serum iron, ferritin or transferrin saturation with other variables including T4, UIC and goiter stage.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study reveals that in the area studied, iron deficiency cannot explain the high prevalence of goiter, so other responsible factors should be investigated.
Siavash Dastjerdi
Mansour
M
Isfahan Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. siavash@med.mui.ac.ir
Hashemipour
Mahin
M
Rezvanian
Hasan
H
Kazemi
Fatemeh
F
Najafian
Alireza
A
Mohammady
Mohammad
M
Aminorroaya
Ashraf
A
Amini
Masoud
M
Kachuei
Ali
A
Hassan Moaddab
Mohammad
M
D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D006042:Goiter / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007455:Iodine / Q000652:urine; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D007501:Iron / Q000097:blood; D000090463:Iron Deficiencies; D008297:Male; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000097:blood; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood; D014168:Transferrin / Q000032:analysis
D014168:Transferrin; D013972:Thyrotropin; D005293:Ferritins; D007455:Iodine; D007501:Iron; D013974:Thyroxine