Iodine deficiency a persisting problem: assessment of iodine nutrition and evaluation of thyroid nodular pathology in Portugal.
BACKGROUND
The goal of eliminating iodine deficiency (ID) by the year 2000 has still not been achieved in several countries. More than 2 billion people worldwide (over 260 million school age children) remain ID. In Europe, there are still countries, such as Portugal, without national general population data on iodine nutrition (IN). This study aims at evaluating combined complementary data of the IN of the general population through urinary iodine concentration (UIC) and the thyroid histology profile from the inland region of Beira Interior (BI), in Portugal.


METHODS
UIC from a population sample of 214 volunteers (131 females and 83 males), with ages ranging from 8 to 97 years (mean 51.5 years ± SD 20.74 years), from BI was determined; the thyroid histology pattern in BI (6-year period) was evaluated; and the iodine content of the largest surface water reservoir of BI, never previously reported, was measured.


RESULTS
Median UIC of 62.6 μg/L was measured. Over 92 % of the population had UIC less than 100 μg/L. From 279 histology reports evaluated, the incidence of the different types of thyroid nodular pathology in BI was established. There were 60 histologic diagnoses of malignancy. The observed ratio of papillary to follicular carcinoma relatively close to 1 and the fairly high percentage of anaplastic carcinomas are characteristic of ID areas.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this first general population study on IN from the inland region of BI, Portugal, document significant ID. This problem, with its serious public health implications, could be corrected by having affordable iodised salt widely and generally available and by promoting a proactive population attitude generated by ample public information and educational programs as to the negative consequences of ID.
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal. endosantos@hotmail.com.|CICS-UBI Health Sciences Research Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal. endosantos@hotmail.com.|Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira, Covilhã, Portugal. endosantos@hotmail.com.
J E C
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2724-3494
JE
Santos
Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal.
M
M
Freitas
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal.|CICS-UBI Health Sciences Research Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal.
C P
CP
Fonseca
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal.|CICS-UBI Health Sciences Research Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal.
P
P
Castilho
CIMAGO - Centre of Investigation in Environment, Genetics and Oncobiology, Coimbra, Portugal.|Laboratory of Cytogenetics and Genomics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
I M
IM
Carreira
Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Perleman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
J L
JL
Rombeau
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal.|CICS-UBI Health Sciences Research Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal.|Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira, Covilhã, Portugal.
M C
MC
Branco
D018263:Adenocarcinoma, Follicular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007455:Iodine / Q000172:deficiency*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000378:metabolism*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
D007455:Iodine
Anaplastic thyroid cancer; Follicular thyroid cancer; Iodine deficiency; Iodised salt; Papillary thyroid cancer; Seafood nutrition; Thyroid cancer; Thyroid nodular pathology; Urinary iodine concentration