Regional Differences in the Incidence of Iodine Deficiency in Children in the Czech Republic

Overview

In a representative group of 2256 children age 6, 10 and 13 years from 9 districts of the Czech Republic theseverity of iodine deficiency was assessed. The most serious findings were assembled in the districts of Prague, Ústínad Orlicí, Ústí nad Labem, Jindřichův Hradec, and Jablonec nad Nisou. The most favourable findings wereobtained in districts Znojmo, Cheb and Vsetín. On average 58% children in the investigated 9 districts of the CzechRepublic had favourable iodiuria levels (i.e. above 100 mg/l). It is a positive feature that iodiuria levels below 50mg/l were recorded in the nine investigated districts only in 1 to 15%. This is according to ICCIDD a favourablefeature for permanently sustainable elimination of iodine deficiency.

Key words:
ioduria, iodine deficiency, indicators of severity of iodine deficiency