• Citer

Relationship between the serum thyrotropin level, the prevalence of goiter and the pattern of iodine metabolism in Idjwi Island.

par Delange, François ;Hershman, Jerome J.M.;Ermans, André Marie
Référence The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 33, 2, page (261-268)
Publication Publié, 1971-08

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

Radioimmunoassay of serum thyrotropin was performed in 185 patients, 4-30 yr old, living in Brussels (control group), in the nongoitrous (southwest) and in the goitrous (north) areas of Idjwi Island (Dem. Rep. of the Congo). Both these regions in Idjwi Island have a severe and quite similar iodine deficiency. The serum TSH level was higher in the inhabitants of Idjwi Island than in the Belgian controls; it was still higher in the goitrous area (in both goitrous and nongoitrous subjects) than in the nongoitrous area. No difference was observed in the 3 areas as a function of age, size of the thyroid, or its nodularity. There was a significant correlation between the TSH level and the plasma [l27I]PBI in the goitrous area. There was no correlation between the TSH level, the 6-hr thyroidal radioiodine uptake, the [125I]PBI estimated at the time of equilibrium in isotopic distribution and the organic exchangeable iodine pool of the thyroid in all 3 areas. The results observed in southwest Idjwi show that the human thyroid is capable of adapting itself adequately to a very severe iodine deficiency under the influence of an increased thyrotropic stimulation without clinical evidence of thyroidal hyperplasia. The higher serum TSH level observed in north Idjwi suggests that thyrotropic hyperstimulation is responsible for endemic goiter in Idjwi Island. In this island, the serum TSH level seems to be more closely related to the geographic environment than to the age of the subjects or the individual size of the thyroid. © 1971 by The Endocrine Society.