title: Iron deficiency in goitrous schoolchildren of Semirom, Iran.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Isfahan Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. siavash@med.mui.ac.ir
authors.forename: Mansour
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siavash Dastjerdi
authors.forename: Mahin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashemipour
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rezvanian
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kazemi
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Najafian
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohammady
authors.forename: Ashraf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aminorroaya
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amini
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kachuei
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hassan Moaddab
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D014168:Transferrin; D013972:Thyrotropin; D005293:Ferritins; D007455:Iodine; D007501:Iron; D013974:Thyroxine