Thyroid ultrasonography was performed in 482 subjects, free of known thyroid disease and living in a borderline iodine-sufficient urban area, to assess the prevalence of non-palpable thyroid nodules and evaluation their evolute during a 3-yr follow-up. The mean (+/-SD) thyroid volume in the whole study group was 10.9+/-3.7 ml and was higher in males (12.9+/-3.6 ml) than in females (9.2+/-2.9 ml) (p35 yr than in those 30) of nodular volume was found in 5 subjects, while an increased number of nodules was found in 8. In conclusion, thyroid ultrasonography reveals the presence of thyroid nodules in a significant proportion of apparently thyroid disease-free subjects living in a borderline iodine-sufficient urban area. Incidentally discovered thyroid nodules are associated with goiter and are likely to progress in volume and number.
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