title: Can thyroid size still be considered as a useful tool for assessing iodine intake?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has always been very difficult to precisely define a goitre. For years, the borderline values have been sought which could be universally used in such evaluations. However, presented reference values were very often disappointing as they proved to be either too restrictive or too liberal.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to assess the two methods of goitre evaluation: 1) traditional, based on ultrasound reference ranges for the thyroid size, 2) based on the analysis of thyroid volume (V) referred to the body surface area (BSA).
  
  
  METHODS
  For this purpose, the study was conducted to evaluate the incidence of goitre and ioduria among 102 school-aged children in Opoczno, Poland. The study group comprised 59 girls and 43 boys; age range: 8-12 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The incidence of goitre among the examined children varied from 1.0-11.8% in relation to the age, and from 0-14.5% in relation to the BSA, depending on the references ranges used.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Analysis of V/BSA ratio is a better estimation of the size of the thyroid gland than the evaluation of thyroid size based on traditional ultrasound reference values. Summing up, relating the size of the thyroid gland to BSA is a good, sensitive tool for such analysis, and can be used for comparisons of different populations, as well as surveys conducted at different time points.
authors.affiliation: Polish Mother's Memorial Hospital - Research Institute, Lodz, Poland; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Arkadiusz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zygmunt
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Rheumatology, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zygmunt
authors.affiliation: Polish Mother's Memorial Hospital - Research Institute, Lodz, Poland; Department of Oncological Endocrinology, Chair of Oncological Endocrinology, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karbownik-Lewińska
authors.affiliation: Polish Mother's Memorial Hospital Research Institute, Lodz, Poland; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lewiński
mesh_terms: D001830:Body Surface Area; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006042:Goiter / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007455:Iodine / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D009929:Organ Size; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012016:Reference Values; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D007455:Iodine