Iodine supplements in pregnancy and breastfeeding

Suplementos de yodo en la gestación y la lactancia

Autor

Carmen Rosa Pallás Alonso and PrevInfad group

Categoría

Fecha de última actualización:

21/04/2019

Iodine is an essential element for the production of thyroid hormone, so that it plays a fundamental role in the growth and development of children. Severe deficiency in pregnancy causes cretinism and irreversible cerebral harm in the child. The benefit of iodine supplementation during pregnancy in areas with severe deficiency of iodine is well stablished. However, in mild or moderate deficient areas, the evidence of benefits only is suggested indirectly through the results in biomarkers; there is no one single clinical trial communicating results of iodine supplementation during pregnancy in the development or growth of the children.

In spite of the national and international recommendations on the pharmacological iodine supplementation in pregnancy and breastfeeding, the group PrevInfad has failed to find information of quality that permits stablishing a risk-benefit balance of this intervention in Spain. PrevInfad understands that, being a prophylactic intervention that deals with two individuals (mother and child) and that applies to the whole of a healthy population, the precaution principle must apply.

Therefore, PrevInfad considers that there is no evidence of enough quality to stablish the benefits and the risks of pharmacological iodine supplementation during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and suggests not to implement this intervention (recommendation weak against according to GRADE methodology).

Probably, the results of current research will bring in the future essential information that could introduce modifications in this recommendation.

_{How to cite this article: Pallás Alonso C. Iodine supplements y pregnancy and breastfeeding. Recommendation. In Recomendaciones PrevInfad/PAPPS [online]. Updated May 2014. [consulted MM-DD-YYYY]. Available in http://previnfad.aepap.org/recomendacion-en/yodo-enrec}