[Disturbances of thyroid function in adult population of the city of Cracow followed up for ten years observation].

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to define disturbances of thyroid function in adult population of the city of Cracow followed up for ten years. The analysis included the results obtained from 891 individuals, 571 females and 320 males aged 18-78 years examined prior to and after implementation of the obligatory model of iodine prophylaxis (years 1989-1990 and 1998-1999). After the exclusion of patients diagnosed earlier as having hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, the mean TSH level in the years 1998-1999 was significantly higher as compared to data obtained between 1989 and 1990 (1.44 microj/ml vs. 1.30 microj/ml) in the examined population. Our 10 years observation revealed an insignificant increase in frequency of hyperthyroidism only among females (1.6% vs. 0.9%) which did not indicate a clear, endemic in character increase at the population level. In the present investigations, hypothyroidism was demonstrated to occur more frequently as compared to the 1989-90 study (2.1% vs. 1.4% among females and 0.3% vs. 0% in males). Both differences were not statistically significant. As seen from the present results, over the investigated 10-year period, in the Cracow population, there occurred a clear, statistically significant (p<0.001) increase of the percentage of individuals with an elevated TPO antibody titter (3.8% vs. 11.8%). In our investigation no correlation was observed between anti-TPO antibodies and ioduria levels.
Conclusions: The results reveal no statistically significant increase in incidence of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism after implementation of the obligatory model of iodine prophylaxis. The future studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms involved in increase of anti-TPO autoantibodies and verify its possible temporary nature.