[Endemic goiter in the Man region (Ivory Coast)]

An epidemiological study involving 616 subjects carried out in the Man region, Côte-d'Ivoire, showed endemic goitre in 54,4% of the group overall and in 80 % of females. Thyroid function of subjects chosen at random in the goitrous and nongoitrous group (105 G and 71 NG respectively) was identical. Compared with a French control group T4 was significantly lower but T3 and TSH were higher, which represents a high TBG level with low iodine elimination. High levels of TSH are not necessarily associated with low T3 or T4 levels, or with clinical signs of a hypothyroid condition. They are probably the result of a transient reaction. T4-TSH and T3-TSH correlations for NG subjects were (--0,40) but the T3-TSH correlation for the G subjects was significantly lower (--0,23). These differences could be explained by the simultaneous high levels of T3 and TSH more frequently encountered in G subjects and by the fact that serious hypothyroid conditions are more frequent in the NG group (6 out of 9). The percentage of hypothyroid conditions is high in both clinical and biological investigations. No anti-thyroglobulin antibodies were found in any of the hypothyroid cases with goitre. The histograms illustrate the clinical and biological heterogeneity of a homogeneous non-medicalised population.