The prevalence of the goiter and thyroid dysfunction in healthy children aged 7-18 years in Bojnurd in 2011

Enlargement of the thyroid gland is called goiter. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of the goiter and thyroid dysfunction in healthy children aged 7-18 years in Bojnurd city.
This cross-sectional study was carried out on 176,7-18 years old students in Bojnurd. The demographic and anthropometric data were collected with questionnaires. Physical examination was performed by endocrinologist in order to staging of goiter. Fasting blood sample was obtained to measure the level of thyroid hormones and TSH. The data were analyzed using SPSS software and presented with chi-square, fisher test and logistic regression
According to the results 28.4 % of students had goiter including 26.1% grade 1 and 3.2% grade 2. Thyroid function tests revealed 38 students (21.6 %) had subclinical hypothyroidism. A meaningful subclinical hypothyroidism was observed in 26% of girls and 18.2 % of boys (p=0.021).
Given that to our results the prevalence of the goiter in Bojnurd was moderate more attention to this would be necessary.