Worldwide Recall Rate in Newborn Screening Programs for Congenital Hypothyroidism.

Context: Neonatal mass screening program for congenital hypothyroidism provides the best tool for prevention of its devastating effects on mental development. Despite the overall success of the screening programs in detecting congenital hypothyroidism and eliminating its sequelae and new developments made in the program design, high recall rate and false positive results impose a great challenge worldwide. Lower recall rate and false positive results may properly organize project expenses by reducing the unnecessary repeated laboratory tests, increase physicians and parents' assurance and cooperation, as well as reduce the psychological effects in families.

Iodine nutrition status in lactating mothers residing in countries with mandatory and voluntary iodine fortification programs: an updated systematic review.

Background: The aim of this review is to assess data available on iodine nutrition status in lactating mothers residing in countries with mandatory and voluntary iodine fortification programs and/or iodine supplementation.

Summary: A systematic review was conducted by searching articles published between 1964 and 2013 in Pub Med, ISI Web, and Cochrane Library using iodine nutrition, lactation, iodine supplementation, and iodine fortification as keywords for titles and/or abstracts. Relevant articles were included if they reported urinary iodine concentration (UIC) in lactating mothers and, if determined, the type of iodine fortification program and/or iodine supplementation.

Relationship between goiter and gender: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Several studies have reported inconsistent findings for the effect of gender on goiter prevalence. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the effect of gender on goiter prevalence in different age groups and with differing iodine status. We systematically searched Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library and Persian databases for trials published between 1950 and May 2012.

Dietary trends in the Middle East and North Africa: an ecological study (1961 to 2007).

Objective: Middle Eastern and North African countries are undergoing nutrition transition, a transition which is associated with an increased burden of non-communicable diseases. This necessitates the evaluation of dietary patterns in these regions. The present study aimed to assess changes in dietary patterns in Middle Eastern and North African countries between 1961 and 2007.