Public Health
Volume 122, Issue 5 , Pages 458-461, May 2008

Iodine status and goitre prevalence in nitrate-exposed schoolchildren living in rural Bulgaria

  • Penka D. Gatseva

      Affiliations

    • Department of Hygiene and Ecomedicine, Medical University, 15a Vassil Aprilov Street, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +35932602536; fax: +35932636200.
    • ,
  • Mariana D. Argirova

      Affiliations

    • Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Medical University, 15a Vassil Aprilov Street, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Received 12 February 2007; received in revised form 12 July 2007; accepted 2 September 2007.

Summary 

Nitrate and perchlorate are well-known water pollutants that are harmful to human health. They may inhibit the accumulation of iodide in the thyroid gland. The present study investigated iodine status and goitre prevalence in schoolchildren aged 7–14 years from two villages in Bulgaria with high and low levels of nitrate, and negligible levels of perchlorate in drinking water. Comparison between the mean and median urinary iodine concentrations of the exposed and non-exposed children showed a statistically significant difference for the boys. A statistically significant difference was also found for goitre prevalence between the exposed and non-exposed children. The relative risk for schoolchildren exposed to a high level of nitrate in drinking water, expressed as an odds ratio, was 3.014 (95% confidence intervals 1.293–7.027; P=0.0105) and this was considered to be significant. This study confirmed that a high level of nitrate in drinking water is a risk factor for thyroid dysfunction in this population.

Keywords: Nitrate, Perchlorate, Drinking water, Ioduria, Goitre, Schoolchildren

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PII: S0033-3506(07)00292-2

doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2007.09.001

Public Health
Volume 122, Issue 5 , Pages 458-461, May 2008

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