Resumo

SAN MIGUEL SIMBRON, José Luis et al. Evaluación de la Tiroides por palpación, su asociación con la Ultrasonografía en Mujeres en edad fértil, residentes de gran altitud: Validación como un Test Diagnóstico. Cuad. - Hosp. Clín. [online]. 2006, vol.51, n.1, pp. 57-64. ISSN 1652-6776.

The goitre policy was used to study the level of iodine deficiency in the population. At high altitude, only very few studies exist relatives to the validity of the palpation method by Perez, for the detection of goitre in women of childbearing age. Research question What is the capacity for clinical diagnosis of the common goitre, and what are the sensitivity, specificity and predictives values of the palpation method for the detection of goitre in women of childbearing age, living at high altitude? Objective To stablish sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of the method of palpation of the thyroid for detecting goitre in women of childbearing age, in comparison with ultrasonography as gold standard. Study Design Diagnostic test Seeting High altitude, Faculty of Medicine of La Paz, Bolivia. Subjects 177 women of childbearing age. In all women, ultrasonography of the thyroid gland was carried out with criteria eligibility. Material and methods The women underwent a clinical exam and palpation of the thyroid gland with the WHO 1960 system. All of them were submitted to ultrasonography as gold standard, in order to define the presence or absence of goitre. Statistical analysis Usual statistical methods to calculatediagnostic test. Results We found a real prevalence of 57.5 % in association with the statigraphs of sensitivity, specificity obtaines with the ultrasonography or the thyroid. The association of palpation with ultrasonography showed a sensitivity of 61.1%, specificity of 60.3%, positive predictive value 14.8%, negative predictive value 93%, positive likelihood ratio 1.51, negative likelihood ratio 0.65. Conclusions The palpation method of Perez (1960), of the tyroid gland in women of childbearing age, permanently living at high altitude, has a good capacity for clinical diagnosis and may be used in health care for assessing presence or absence of goitre, without important lost of this capacity .

Palavras-chave : Capacidad diagnóstica clínica; bocio; palpación y ultrasonografía; altitud; test diagnóstico; sensibilidad; especificidad; valores predictivos.