[Hygienic aspects of iodine deficiency diseases in the Tomsk Region]

The impact of the content of iodine and other trace elements in the environmental objects of the Tomsk Region on the development of iodine-deficiency diseases was studied in children. Slightly sour soils and low soil humus levels in the Tomsk Region were ascertained to be conducive to low iodine content in soils and plants. As compared with the clarke of iodine in the lithosphere, the soils in the Tomsk Region were marked by low iodine levels, permitting it to be, in terms of endemic goiter, referred to as a biogeochemical province. The soils of rural areas in the Tomsk Region were characterized by the specific trace element composition--the high content of molybdenum and copper and the low level of zinc, which is a factor that is of importance in the development of endemic goiter. In children, daily dietary requirements for iodine were met at 60% of the normal levels, those for animal proteins at 50%, at the same time there was deficiency of amino acid tyrosine, the substrate involved in the synthesis of thyroid hormones. Endemic goiter occupies 80% in the structure of thyroid diseases. There is a considerable predominance of early goiter forms over severer ones. In terms of the level of ioduria, 64% of the examined children had mild iodine deficiency.