Researchers routinely discover IDD in remote, underdeveloped areas, but it may be a case of looking where the light is best. A research team from the University of Paris (France) has studies a population near Paris and discovered widespread iodine deficiency with significant negative correlation with fetal thyroid development. The research was reported in PLoS.

"Our findings indicate that iodine supplementation should be offered to all women of childbearing potential and to all pregnant women in our geographic area. Although iodine supplementation has been found beneficial even when started only in the second trimester of pregnancy [16], the benefits are greatest when it is begun before conception or very early during the pregnancy [17]. Consequently, ultrasonography of the fetal gland is probably not useful as a screening test for maternal iodine deficiency. Given the state of our knowledge, a randomized or comparative study of iodine supplementation would be unethical."