The significance and trend of hypertension related deaths in urban Sierra Leonean Africans

This study tried to show the contributory role of ions (cations and anions) to great contrast in the goitre prevalence between Bassa and Jos Local Government Areas, both of Plateau State, Nigeria. In pursuance of this, the concentration of cations (Ca++, Fe++, K+, Mg++, Na+, & Zn++) and anions (C1-, F, I-, & NO-3) in soil and drinking water in the two LGAs were determined and their results compared and correlated with the goitre prevalence of these areas. It was observed that both Bassa and Jos LGAs have very low but similar amounts of iodide ions in their soils. Besides, Bassa LGA contained more ions in both soil and drinking water than Jos LGA. In conclusion, the results appear to suggest that the higher ion contents of both soil and drinking water in Bassa LGA exacerbated the coexisting low iodide condition of the LGA, thus resulting in the higher goitre prevalence found in the LGA.