1. Timing of vulnerability of the brain to iodine deficiency in endemic cretinism
- Author
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Cao Xue-Yi, Jiang Xin-Min, Dou Zhi-Hong, Rakemen, Murdon Abdul, Zhang Ming-Li, O'Donnell, Karen, Ma Tai, Amette, Kareem, DeLong, Nancy, and DeLong, G. Robert
- Subjects
Iodine deficiency diseases -- Prevention ,Cretinism -- Prevention ,Iodine in the body -- Health aspects ,Prenatal care -- Health aspects - Abstract
Iodine treatment administered before the end of the second trimester of pregnancy appears to provide effective protection from iodine deficiency in the fetal brain. Iodine deficiency causes endemic cretinism and is the most common preventable cause of mental retardation. Iodine treatment before conception is known to prevent cretinism, but the effects of treatment during pregnancy and after birth are less well known. Pregnant women and young children in an iodine-poor region were given iodine treatment. The children of women who received iodine treatment before the end of the second trimester of pregnancy showed a 2% rate of neurologic abnormalities, compared to 9% of the children who were treated during or after the third trimester. At about two years of age, the mean development score of the children whose mothers received iodine treatment before the end of the second trimester of pregnancy was 90, compared to a mean score of 75 in their untreated counterparts.
- Published
- 1994