Thyropathic endemic dystrophy in an area of the Argeş Valley

The authors carried out a clinical, chemical and medico-social study of an endemic focus in the Argeş Valley. Iodine deficiency and partially water hardness constitute the main goitrogenic factors. Owing to the curative-prophylactic means, the goitre frequency substantially decreased in school children (from 98.5% in 1949 to 18.3% in 1969) and serious forms of the third degree did not occur in the last 14 years. A certain percentage of diffuse goitre still remains in school children besides the residual pathology before the iodized prophylaxis. In the period when the prophylaxis with KI (potassium iodine) troches was neglected, a slight increase of goitre frequency was found in the investigated groups.