Fetal iodine deficiency and motor performance during childhood.

Motor performance of children born to mothers living in an iodine-deficient region was assessed. The mothers were participants in a controlled trial of intramuscular iodised oil in the prevention of endemic cretinism carried out in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Mothers received either iodised oil or placebo saline. Children born to mothers given iodine were significantly faster and more accurate in tests of manual function than children from control mothers. The findings indicate that iodine deficiency may lead to a spectrum of subclinical deficits which place the children at a developmental disadvantage.