Abstract
In reviewing the iodine determinations of drinking water from the State of Utah made in this laboratory (some of these determinations being made by J. C. Hathaway, H. H. Vanderslins, Clarence Dahl) it was found there was not a very close relationship between iodine and freedom from goiter. In some cases a number of determinations were made on the same water supply and the iodine content was found to vary at different times.
In the case of the water supply of Stanford University a chemist who had worked on these iodine determinations actually collected and evaporated the water and yet it varied considerably during different months.
Since the enlargement of the thyroid is the result of iodine deficiency during several years, even though the child has not changed its residence during this period, the immediate iodine content of the water supply would not be expected to bear a very close relation to the size of the thyroid. If, however, a large number of cases are taken it is always found that where there is a low average iodine content of the water there is higher average incidence of goiter among school children as shown in the following table:
In this table there are twenty-six towns. Thirteen with low iodine show an average of 52 per cent goiter in the schools. The thirteen with high iodine show an average of 39 per cent goiter in the schools. One town, Huntsville, in Weber County, with 41.1 per cent goiter in the school, showed on one analysis high iodine (7.07)) and in another analysis low iodine (0.22). It was included in the table, and yet its inclusion in either the high or the low would not materially affect the average.
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