BACKGROUND: Programs initiated to prevent iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) may not remain effective due to changes in government policies, commercial factors, and human behavior that may affect the efficacy of IDD prevention programs in unpredictable directions. Monitoring and outcome studies are needed to optimize the effectiveness of IDD prevention. SUMMARY: Although the need for monitoring is compelling, the current reality in Europe is less than optimal. Regular and systematic monitoring surveys have only been established in a few countries, and comparability across the studies is hampered by the lack of centralized standardization procedures. In addition, data on outcomes and the cost of achieving them are needed in order to provide evidence of the beneficial effects of IDD prevention in countries with mild iodine deficiency. CONCLUSION: Monitoring studies can be optimized by including centralized standardization procedures that improve the comparison between studies. No study of iodine consumption can replace the direct measurement of health outcomes and the evaluation of the costs and benefits of the program. It is particularly important that health economic evaluation should be conducted in mildly iodine-deficient areas and that it should include populations from regions with different environmental, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.

Centre for Regional Policy Research and Cooperation Studiorum Skopje Macedonia

Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine University of Pisa Pisa Italy

Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition Hospital de Sant Joan Despi Moisès Broggi Barcelona Spain

Department of Endocrinology Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Larrey Toulouse France

Department of Endocrinology Hospital das Forças Armadas Lisbon Portugal

Department of Endocrinology Institute University of Patras Medical School Patras Greece

Department of Endocrinology Jagiellonian University Medical College Krakow Poland

Department of Endocrinology Slovakian Medical University Bratislava Slovakia

Department of Internal Medicine Rotterdam Thyroid Center Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam The Netherlands

Department of Internal Medicine University of Latvia Riga Latvia

Department of Nuclear Medicine University Medical Centre Ljubljana Slovenia

Department of Nutritional Sciences Faculty Health and Medical Sciences University of Surrey Guildford United Kingdom

Department of Public Health Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment UMIT University for Health Science Medical Informatics and Technology Hall Austria

Departments of Endocrinology and Clinical Medicine Aalborg University Hospital and Aalborg University Aalborg Denmark

Disease Risk Unit National Institute for Health and Welfare Helsinki Finland

Division of Endocrinology University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary

Faculty of Medicine Sofia University Sv Kliment Ohridski Sofia Bulgaria

Human Studies National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research Bergen Norway

Institute for Community Medicine University Medicine Greifswald Greifswald Germany

Institute of Biochemistry Food Science and Nutrition The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalem Israel

Institute of Endocrinology Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Molecular Medicine Cardiff University Cardiff United Kingdom

National University of Ireland Galway and Centre for Public Health Queen's University Belfast North Ireland

Nuclear Medicine Department Erasme Hospital Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels Belgium

Research Centre for Prevention and Health The Capital Region of Denmark Rigshospitalet Glostrup Denmark

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich Department of Health Sciences and Technology Zürich Switzerland

Unit for Nutrition Research University of Iceland and Landspitali National University Hospital Reykjavik Iceland

University of Zagreb School of Medicine Department of Oncology and Nuclear Medicine University Hospital Centre Sestre Milosrdnice Zagreb Croatia

Thyroid. 2016 Aug;26(8):1148. doi: 10.1089/thy.2015.0543.correx. PubMed

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