Deficiencia de yodo en mujeres gestantes indígenas en Colombia: un problema de equidad y de salud pública

Iodine deficiency, goiter, hypothyroidism and congenital hypothyroidism have existed as public health problems for many years, and attempted global and local solutions have consisted of interventions at a community and individual level. In Colombia, the frequency of endemic goiter has been historically high. In school children in Caldas, Rueda-Williamson reported a prevalence of 83.1% of endemic goiter in 1945 and of 33.9% in 1952 (1). Later, the same author reported that the implementation of salt iodization in the department of Caldas – one of the first places to introduce fortification on a experimental basis with the aim of preventing endemic goiter a program created in 1963 by the National Institute of Nutrition, reduced the frequency of goiter in this population of school children by up to 1.8% in 1965 (2). However, by 1984, 21 years after the formal implementation of iodization in Colombia, the frequency of endemic goiter was reported at 52% in Chameza and 13% in Yopal, two municipalities in the department of Casanare, with high average TSH values in both populations (3). Later, the neonatal screening program for congenital hypothyroidism was implemented in 2000 (4). In 2015, the National Nutritional Situation Survey (ENSIN) showed an 16.6% iodine deficiency in children of indigenous ethnicity 1 to 4 https://doi.org/10.18597/rcog.3675