Iodine Deficiency Disorders

Iodine deficiency disorders are among the most significant public health problems in the world at the present time, especially among children and pregnant women, considered the highest risk population. These disorders hinder socio-economic development in the affected areas. IDD are a permanent natural occurrence that affects the entire planet, which means that the people living in iodine-deficient areas will always be exposed to the consequences of that deficiency, in particular increased perinatal mortality, mental retardation and brain developmental delay. Consequently, it is the major cause of preventable brain damage in childhood, and its elimination is one of the biggest challenges in public health. Iodine is present in small amounts in the body and its main role is to act as the substrate for thyroid hormone synthesis. When dietary requirements are not met, the frequency of IDD increases. In general, these disorders are underdiagnosed and, in many countries, there is no awareness of the associated problems or of the iodine status in the population. Methods: Accurate methodological review of the medical literature included in the MEDLINE database using the MeSH terms “iodine”, “disorders”, “iodide”, “deficiency”, combined with the logical operators “AND”, “OR” and “NOT” and the “also try” characteristic of data published in “any date”, limiting the search to results including the link with abstracts and full text, exclusively in humans and regardless of gender. For the preliminary evaluation, the following types of studies were selected: clinical trials, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, clinical practice guidelines, and review articles. The search was limited to papers published in English, and related to the population between 0 and 18, and adults 19 and over, from January 1974 to November 2014. The same criteria were also used in the TRIP DATABASE, as a meta-search engine of the terms specified above.