Epidemiology of iodine deficiency.

Eduardo Gaitan is at the Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical School, Endocrinology Section, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216, USA.

Iodine deficiency (ID) causes goiter, cretinism, neonatal hypothyroidism, irreversible mental retardation, and child and infant death. Over one billion people are at risk, most of them in developing countries. While ID is the primordial factor in these conditions, other environmental and host factors significantly modify the magnitude and clinical presentation of iodine deficiency disorders. The interactions and mechanisms by which these factors operate are complex and mostly unknown, requiring more investigation.

PMID: 18407097 [PubMed - in process]