Prevention of child psychomotor impairment due to iodine deficiency

Iodine is one of the main elements for human development; it intervenes in the synthesis of thyroid hormones and neurodevelopment. Iodine deficiency affects to one third of world population. Iodine deficiency is responsible of disorders as goitre and infant cretinism, and it raises child mortality. Mild iodine deficiency can also be responsible of mild neurologic developmental disorders as borderline cognitive skills or attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. In Spain there are communities with mild iodine deficiency. One of the methods to evaluate the community iodine deficit is to know de ratio of the neonatal TSH < 5 MU/l from neonatal mass screening. During pregnancy yoduria often decreases under level of deficiency (defined by OMS). Nowadays there aren?t proofs of efficacy of iodine supplementation since the beginning of pregnancy in the long term neurodevelopment of the child. Authors recommend iodized salt use for all the population and to know the value of TSH neonatal screening of each child. It is necessary to study the effects of iodine supplementation during pregnancy in the long term neurodevelopment of the children.