Prevalence of thyroid gland enlargement among 10-17 year old female schoolchildren in Yerevan, Armenia: screening survey

Abstract

Background: Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) are a critical public health problem in over 130 countries. Iodine deficiency can bring disorders in children, can adversely affect women health, can result in physiological and psychological damages in different age groups and finally can reduce the quality of life of general population. WHO and International Council for Control Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) accepts the prevalance of endemic goiter ((thyroid gland enlargement (TGE)), the Total Goiter Rate as a basic indicator for IDD expressivity. The severity of IDD based on the prevalence of goiter classifies into low, mild, moderate and severe categories. In the information bulletin of ICCIDD Armenia is presented as severe endemic zone for goiter. Objectives: Screening of female adolescents at the age of 10-17 provides an opportunity to establish TGE of a group who are very vulnerable. The present proposal is going to assess the prevalence of TGE goiter among 10-17 year old female in Yerevan, identify the main contributing factors and assess the main complications of TGE within this age group. This will help to fill the research gap in this field, particularly for female adolescents and identify the severity of problem for this target population and also assist in developing prevention and intervention strategies for IDD eradication particularly for this age group in Yerevan, Armenia. Methods and materials: Multistage cluster sampling technique will be used to assess the prevalence of goiter in the analytical cross-sectional survey. 220 female schoolchildren at the age of 10-17 from different schools of Yerevan will participate into the study. Study instrument involves a questionnaire to assess the participants’ iodine related nutritional habits, and also a protocol for physicians to asses the participants health status. Pearson χ2 test of association and simple and multiple logistic regressions techniques will be used to assess the relationship between the study variables. Ethical considerations: Clinical Institutional Review Board of the American University of Armenia approved the proposal for the study. The consent for school directors and parental consent/school assent will be distributed at the beginning of each interview to ensure the confidentiality and voluntariness of the study participants. Research team and budget: Research team will consist of project director, the data implementation and monitoring team, data collectors’ team, data enterers’ team and data analysis team. It is intended to accomplish the study within twelve weeks. The total budget for conducting this survey amounts 4,042,000 AMD.