Abstract
 
Objectives : To estimate the prevalence of goitre among secondary school female students  in Hilla city and the association  between goitre and school performance .
 
Subjects and methods : The study was carried out upon 1500 female students randomly selected from 12 secondary schools.  All the students was subjected to clinical examination of the thyroid and goitre grading was based on the criteria endorsed by  World Health Organization /United Nations Children s Fund /International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders  (WHO/ UNICEF /ICCIDD). Well structured questionnaire was used to collect informations from the study group regarding  different variables.
 
Results:    An overall prevalence of goiter in the study group was (22%). The most common grade of goiter was  grade 1 which constitute (13.8%) while grade 2 forms (8.4%) from the total females examined. School failure for one year or more was present  in (32.6%) of students with goiter as compared to (52%) in those without goitre (p<0.05).  (91%)of students do not know about  iodine rich diet.
 
 
Conclusion : Hilla city is an endemic area of goitre. Inadequate iodized salt consumption and low level of nutritional education are the most likely causes of this endemicity. Goitre is associated with low school performance. Preventive measures are needed and further studies are recommended to estimate the prevalence of goitre at the national level.
 
 
Keywords :Goitre  ,Endemicity ,Secondary school female students.
 
 
 Iraqi Comm.Med.,J.vol.17(1)