dIodine deficiency in Kyrgyzstan: State-of-the-art

Abstract

The territory of the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world’s most known regions of iodine deficiency (mountains occupy three fourths of its area, a part of the republic is situated in the Fergana

Valley). The present study dealt with iodine provision in the city of Bishkek and four main regions of Kyrgyzstan: Issyk-Kul, Osh, Naryn, and Djalal-Abad ohes. It covered 4184 children aged 910 years. Ultrasonographic findings have indicated that the incidence of goiter in schoolchildren is 20 to 28%, indicating a marked dietary iodine deficiency. In the schoolchildren of the Djalal-Abad Region, the incidence of goiter is very high (70%), which is little more different than palpatory findings (85%). The most severe situation associated with iodine provision is observed in the southern regions of the republic (Fergana Valley). In the schoolchildren of the Djalal-Abad Region, the median of urinary iodine concentration was as high as 25 y.g/1, actually approximating the critically low limit. Analyzing the pattern of the spread of iodine deficiency in Kyrzystan has demonstrated that virtually the whole examined population (92-100%) has iodine deficiency. The results of the present study suggest that there is a marked iodine deficiency on the whole territory of Kyrgyzstan with a predominance in the republic’s southern regions situated in the Fergana Valley.