Iodine status in europe in 2014.

there are insufficient data on developmental outcomes in early life [6] . There are 2 randomised studies of iodine supplementation in children with mild iodine deficiency in Albania [7] and New Zealand [8] showing improved cognition. However, large-scale controlled trials are now needed to clarify whether gestational iodine supplementation will benefit infant and childhood neurodevelopment in more European countries with marginal iodine deficiency. During 2013, a postal enquiry survey was performed requesting relevant information on the iodine status from all national coordinators of the ICCIDD GN in the West and Central European region. In addition to the 35 countries, there are 3 (Austria, Kosovo and Montenegro) where there is no national coordinator for the ICCIDD GN and from where no data are available for 2013. Information from all countries was not available on some items of the questionnaire, but all countries with an ICCIDD national coordinator responded. It should be noted that the WHO/ICCIDD criteria for an adequate iodine status in a population are a median urinary iodine (UI) of 100 μg/l or more, with <20% having a UI of <50 μg/l [3] . In pregnancy, the median UI should be at least 150 μg/l, on account of increased iodine requirements during gestation and lactation [9] . The results of the questionnaire showed, firstly, that salt iodisation is mandatory in 13 countries and not mandatory in 21 (no response to this question was received Iodine deficiency has been recognised as a worldwide problem since the last century [1] . The International Council for Iodine Deficiency Disorders Global Network (ICCIDD GN) has underpinned remarkable progress in ameliorating this problem during the last nearly 30 years and especially during the last decade [2] . The number of iodine-deficient countries in the world has decreased from 54 in 2003 to 47 in 2007 and 32 in 2011 [3] . This remarkable rate of progress has been largely due to intensive work by the ICCIDD GN, UNICEF and WHO. Nevertheless, of these 32 countries, 11 (34%) are in Europe, the largest number from any continent [3] . West and Central Europe has a total population of about 600 million situated in 35 countries ( table 1 ), with country populations ranging from 0.3 to 75 million. Attention was drawn to the iodine deficiency problem in this area more than 10 years ago [4] . In general, the iodine deficiency is mild, but nevertheless this may have an impact on childhood development. For example, mild-tomoderate iodine deficiency in the first trimester of pregnancy was associated with increased odds of the intelligence quotient of offspring being in the lowest quartile (odds ratio: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.04–1.98; p = 0.03), with the greatest negative impact observed with the verbal intelligence quotient (odds ratio: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.20–2.31; p = 0.002) [5] . A review of the current evidence indicates that a correction of mild-to-moderate iodine deficiency improves cognitive performance in school-age children, but Received: December 20, 2013 Accepted after revision: January 17, 2014 Published online: March 1, 2014