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Iodine deficiency is an important global health issue, especially for fertile and pregnant women. It is also a preventable cause of intellectual disability. Iodine is an essential dietary mineral for neurodevelopment among children. [1] The thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine contain iodine. In areas where there is little iodine in ...
Hypothyroidism is common in pregnancy with an estimated prevalence of 2-3% and 0.3-0.5% for subclinical and overt hypothyroidism respectively. [8] Endemic iodine deficiency accounts for most hypothyroidism in pregnant women worldwide while chronic autoimmune thyroiditis is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in iodine sufficient parts of the world.
Iodine deficiency is the most common preventable cause of neonatal and childhood brain damage worldwide. [11] Although iodine is found in many foods, it is not universally present in all soils in adequate amounts. Most iodine, in iodide form, is in the oceans, where the iodide ions are reduced to elemental iodine, which then enters the ...
The gland increases in size by 10%, thyroxine production increases by 50%, and iodine requirements increase. Many women have normal thyroid function but have immunological evidence of thyroid autoimmunity (as evidenced by autoantibodies) or are iodine deficient, and develop evidence of hypothyroidism before or after giving birth. [44]
Iodine levels are frequently too low in pregnant women, and iodine is necessary for normal thyroid function and mental development of the fetus, even cretinism. Pregnant women should take prenatal vitamins containing iodine. [10] Vitamin D levels vary with exposure to sunlight. While it was assumed that supplementation was necessary only in ...
In areas where iodine-deficiency is not found, the most common type of hypothyroidism is an autoimmune subtype called Hashimoto's thyroiditis, with a prevalence of 1-2%. [40] As for hyperthyroidism, Graves' disease , another autoimmune condition, is the most common type with a prevalence of 0.5% in males and 3% in females. [ 41 ]
The word "cretinism" is an old term for the state of mental and physical retardation resulting from untreated congenital hypothyroidism, usually due to iodine deficiency from birth because of low iodine levels in the soil and local food sources. The term, like so many other 19th century medical terms, acquired pejorative connotations as it ...
Iodine deficiency is "the most common preventable cause of mental impairment worldwide." [74] [75] "Even moderate [iodine] deficiency, especially in pregnant women and infants, lowers intelligence by 10 to 15 I.Q. points, shaving incalculable potential off a nation's development."