Résumé
To assess the frequency of endemic goiter in secondary school students in Mosul in northern Iraq and to compare serum vitamin A and urinary iodine excretion between goitrous and non-poitrous students. This study was conducted in Mosul, Iraq from November 2002 through April 2004. A sample of 473 students [aged 13-20 years] from different schools of this area was selected and classified according to socioeconomic status. A pre-tested questionnaire was employed to obtain information on gender, birth date, height, weight, residence, habitual food consumption patterns, and socioeconomic status. Physical examination of the thyroid gland was then done including size, constistency, and grade. Casual morning urine and blood samples were collected from 200 students of the 463 students, 70 males and 130 females. Laboratory measurements for thyroid stimulating hormone [TSH], total thyroxin [T4], vitamin A serum protein, serum albumin, and urinary iodine and creatinine were performed. The students were initially divided into three groups according to grade of goiter. The frequency rate of goiter according to WHO criteria was 28.8% in females and 23.6% in males, with a higher frequency among females aged 17-20 years. Serum vitamin A levels in non-goitrous students [control group] were higher in females than in males and this difference persisted in different age groups. Urinary iodine excretion in the two age groups was higher in males than in females. Among goitrous students, urinary iodine excretion and serum vitamin [opposite of that observed in the control group] were higher in males than in females in the age group of 17-20 years. All the goitrous students had serum vitamin A<0.35 micro mol/L which is deficient according to WHO [1996] criteria. A highly significant correlation was observed in goitrous students between serum vitamin A and urinary iodine excretion [r=0.45, P<0.0001]. Goiter is still an endemic problem for secondary school students in Mosul in northern Iraq. Vitamin A and iodine deficiencies are common health problems in this area. It may be useful to measure serum iron and zinc in goitrous students and to clarify whether or not there is a correlation between these two parameters and serum vitamin A and urinary iodine