endemic goiter in boyer-ahmad

in order to investigate goiter prevalence in boyer-ahmad, an iranian tribal province, 87 families were randomly selected in yasuj township and doruhan county. clinical examination of the subjects disclosed 95% of females and 87% of males over 6 years of age to be goitrous. grade 2 goiter had the highest prevalence among females. in males grade 1 b was the most prevalent. hormonal studies on a subsample did not show major abnormalities but free t 3 index was increased significantly in subjects with grade 3 goiter compared to the goitrous and grade 2 groups (p < 0.01). mean urinary iodine excretion was33.9 ± 30.1 flg/gcreatinine in yasuj and23.95 ± 16.6 1 in ddruhan, indicating moderate to severe iodine deficiency. this study documents goiter hyperendemicity in a southern province not previously acknowledged by national or international authorities.