Despite the high risk of bias of many of the included studies , the results suggested that urinary iodine , thyroglobin , serum thyroxine , and thyroid-stimulating hormone are useful biomarkers of iodine status , at least in some groups .
BACKGROUND Biomarkers of iodine status are required to study iodine deficiency disorders in different parts of the world and to evaluate the effects of fortification strategies .
OBJECTIVE The objective was to assess the usefulness of biomarkers of iodine status in humans by systematic ally review ing intervention studies that altered iodine status .
Iodine supplementation with oral or intramuscular iodized oil. A two-year follow-up of a comparative trial.
A controlled trial of iodine supplementation comparing oral with intramuscular iodized oil has been carried out in an iodine deficient area of Zaire . Two years after the administration of 2 ml of oral iodized oil to the population of four villages the overall goitre prevalence had fallen from 64 to 54 % . In a further two villages given 2 ml of intramuscular oil the prevalence fell from 65 to 50 % . The effectiveness of supplementation was also assessed by measuring changes in thyroid function in women of reproductive age . Among women in the villages given oral iodized oil , the geometric mean thyroxine concentration , measured in dried bloodspots , rose from 27.2 to 52.6 nmol/L at the two-year follow-up . This was similar to the response of the intramuscularly treated villages in which thyroxine levels rose from 32.1 to 65.4 nmol/L. There was no change in goitre prevalence or thyroid function in two control villages . Oral iodized oil is a cheaper and simpler alternative to the injected form providing effective iodine prophylaxis for up to two years after a single dose
Despite the high risk of bias of many of the included studies , the results suggested that urinary iodine , thyroglobin , serum thyroxine , and thyroid-stimulating hormone are useful biomarkers of iodine status , at least in some groups .
BACKGROUND Biomarkers of iodine status are required to study iodine deficiency disorders in different parts of the world and to evaluate the effects of fortification strategies .
OBJECTIVE The objective was to assess the usefulness of biomarkers of iodine status in humans by systematic ally review ing intervention studies that altered iodine status .