Complete elimination of iodine deficiency-induced diseases in the Republic of Serbia through overall salt iodination

The territory of Serbia has been long known to be an iodine de­ficiency area. The surveys conducted in the past 50 years have shown that iodine deficiency disorders ranged from small goiters to endemic cretinism. The iodine deficiency control program has been implemented in Serbia since 1951, in so doing, the salt con­centration of iodine (as potassium iodide) has been gradually in­creased and at present it is 20 mg/kg. Just in the mid- 1960s, io­dine prophylaxis led to cessation of new cases of cretinism and large goiters.This survey was undertaken to determine the iodine provision in Serbia. The survey was conducted in accordance with the WHO, UNICEF, and ICCIDD guidelines and it covered 4598 school­children aged 7 to 15 years from the urban and rural areas of 44 municipalities of Central Serbia and Vojvodina. Among all the examinees, the detection rate of the enlarged thyroid was 2.35% (as evidenced by ultrasound study) and the median urinary io­dine concentration was 158 $\mu$g/l. The findings suggest that iodine deficiency has been completely eliminated in Serbia due to the ef­fective program of the overall dietary salt iodination.

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