According to the World Health Organization (WHO), thyroid diseases rank second after diabetes mellitus among endocrine disorders.
In Russia, thyroid diseases in women are 10-17 times more common than in men. Moreover, in men, they are usually more severe than in women. Such a frequent occurrence of diseases in women is due to their characteristic hormonal characteristics, especially anatomy, physiology and psychology.
Malfunctions in the work of this body are diagnosed, according to the statistics of the World Health Organization, in about every tenth inhabitant of our planet. At the same time, experts note that every year endemic goiter, hypothyroidism and other thyroid diseases are found more and more often.
More than 2.2 billion people live in goiter-endemic areas of iodine deficiency, and more than one billion people suffer from goiter. The interest of the world community in this problem is extremely high and is due to the fact that the state of health and the intellectual level of the population living in these regions is worse than in regions free from goiter endemic.
Why does the thyroid gland one day stop working as it should?
It is not at all easy to answer such a question, because a complex of factors always leads to each disease. In situations where the pathology is not associated with a lack of iodine obtained from the environment, or a neck injury, it is impossible to unequivocally name the cause of the disease. Doctors do not deny the role of the psychological aspect: often thyroid problems make themselves felt against the background of severe personal or professional stresses.
Three groups of factors have the greatest influence on the incidence rate of malignant tumors of the thyroid gland: climatogeographic, professional and social.
Purpose of the research: to study the influence of ecology on the thyroid gland.
Research objectives: 1) to study the literature on the research topic; 2) to study the level of awareness of 1st year students of “MK # 1” about the influence of ecology on thyroid diseases; 3) give recommendations on the prevention of thyroid diseases.
Research results. As a result of the literature review, it was found that the hormones produced by the thyroid gland regulate the metabolism, growth, development and functioning of all body tissues, enhance the absorption of oxygen by cells, stimulate energy processes, and affect the cardiovascular and central nervous system.
Lack of iodine in food, as well as its excess, lead to disorders in the synthesis of hormones and can cause thyroid diseases. Most of the territory of Russia is a zone of iodine deficiency. Our soils contain a small amount of iodine, so the plants grown on them also do not contain enough iodine. A similar situation is with livestock products – both meat and milk are not rich in iodine. The problem of consuming a sufficient amount of iodine could be solved by seafood, but the majority of the Russian population consumes them in small quantities.
Insufficient intake of iodine in the body is especially dangerous for children – both during intrauterine development and in subsequent periods. Iodine is necessary for the normal formation of the central nervous system and the provision of adequate mental development of the child.
It is known that the state of human health is determined by both heredity and the influence of the external environment. According to the World
Health Organization (WHO), on average, about 30% of the incidence of the population is associated with the provoking effect of environmental pollution, namely the deterioration of the environmental situation.
So, to date, a number of reasons for the development of thyroid pathology are known: genetic factors, the amount of iodine consumed, ionizing radiation, foodstrumogens (that is, substances that cause the growth of the thyroid gland and interfere with the synthesis of thyroid hormones), the quality of drinking water, air purity, deficiency protein nutrition, drug strumogenic effects, smoking, pregnancy, etc.
One of the important provoking factors in the pathogenesis of thyroid diseases is a high level of technogenic ecopathogens , in particular, lead and cadmium. The deterioration of the ecological situation in the environment significantly increases the risk of developing autoimmune thyroiditis .
The deterioration of the ecological situation of the environment on the territory of Russia, including in iodine-deficient regions, significantly increases the risk of developing thyroid diseases. Thus, air pollution has increased the likelihood of thyroid cancer among women. It is noted that almost all pollutants have a direct or indirect strumogenic effect and cause insufficient intake of iodine in the thyroid gland.
Also, smoking affects the thyroid gland in an extremely negative way. There are many toxic substances in tobacco smoke. One of the most harmful is thiocyanate and 2,3-hydroxypyridine. The first toxin prevents the thyroid gland from absorbing iodine normally. The second substance can cause the concentration of iodine in the body to be excessively high.
Anthropogenic pollution of drinking water, along with other environmental factors, is an intense factor affecting the hormonal system.
Ionizing radiation and radionuclides play a huge role among the factors causing damage to the thyroid gland. Proof of this is the sharp increase in the incidence of thyroid diseases in the area of the Chernobyl accident. In areas exposed to ionizing radiation, the incidence of thyroid cancer has increased 50 times.