Hypothyroidism Among Military Infants Born in Countries of Varied Iodine Nutrition Status, Article Critique Example

Hypothyroidism is a medical condition, which results in low production of thyroid hormone by thyroid glands. Thyroid hormone is a fundamental requirement in cellular process and growth. There are notable cases of Hypothyroidism around the globe with varying prevalence depending on locations. This research was carried out to establish the relationship between iodine intake levels in various geographical regions with the prevalence of the condition. The regions considered include Japan, which has the highest iodine consumption level, USA, Germany, and US territories. The size of the sample data is adequate to give expected variants in the research. To some extent, the research findings can be relied upon since it was able to establish a relationship between Hypothyroidism and the age of the neonate’s mother. It is true that the level thyroid activities fall with age leading to production of low thyroid hormones. Therefore, a child born from an older mother will likely have a higher change of developing Hypothyroidism as compared to one born from younger mother (Cranston 1).

Conversely, I am skeptical of the research study and findings because of lack of sufficient linkage between research and its findings. The research design itself had many weaknesses. First is the generalization of iodine intake in the geographical regions used in the research. It is true that soil iodine content varies from one place to another. However, iodine intake through table salt varies from one individual to another. There are people in Japan whose iodine intake is lower than USA yet Japan is rated to be leading. It is also true there are American living in USA whose iodine intake is higher than Japanese. This uncontrolled variant discredits the general assumption that iodine intake in Japan is higher than USA. The second critical issue of the research study is the finding that hypothyroidism was more prevalent in infants born to civilian mothers than those born to military mothers (Cranston 3). There is no established link between the research findings and that variant.

The third issue of contention is the lack of existing study about iodine intake in the military families. Without this study, it becomes insufficient to link the hypothyroidism in infants and their mother’s iodine intake relative to their geographical location. A valid research should have been carried out to establish variations in iodine intake amongst childbearing mothers at different ages in the United States of America. Then using the variations in these mothers, a research should have then been carried on hypothyroidism in their infants to see whether there is any relationship between hypothyroidism prevalence in infants and iodine intake levels of their mothers. With findings from such a research study, it could have been sufficient to validate the research study Department of Defense Birth and Infant Health Registry (Cranston et al 4). The research findings from this research merely points out the relationship between iodine intake of the mother and the prevalence of hypothyroidism in their infants.

Another variable that was not controlled in the experience but could have been critical in the research findings is the hereditary factor that affects thyrotropin hormonal activities, which affect the adequacy of iodine in blood. An expectant mother with low iodine content in blood will likely give birth to an infant with iodine deficiency leading to psychomotor complications and stunted growth. Concisely, the results from the research had confounded effects from those variants that were not controlled and thus inconclusive.

Works Cited

Cranston, Marcus et al. Hypothyroidism among Military Infants Born In Countries of Varied Iodine Nutrition Status. BMC Endocrine Disorders 2010, 10:2, 1-6. doi:10.1186/1472-6823-10-2