A schoolbased survey on prevalence of iodine deficiency by monitoring urinary iodine excretion in a municipality area of South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal

DR. AGNIHOTRI BHATTACHARYYA; DR. KAUSHIK KAR; DR. SHUVANKR MUKHERJEE; DR. BAISHAKHI PARIA

Volume : V, Issue : VIII, August - 2016

A schoolbased survey on prevalence of iodine deficiency by monitoring urinary iodine excretion in a municipality area of South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal

Dr. Agnihotri Bhattacharyya, Dr. Kaushik Kar, Dr. Shuvankr Mukherjee, Dr. Baishakhi Paria

Abstract :

 Background: In India, an estimated 200 million people were at risk for iodine deficiency disorders. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of iodine deficiency by monitoring urinary iodine level among the high school children and to find out the any association between urinary iodine excretion with iodine content of salt consumed at the household level. Methods: The study was conducted in a municipality area of South 24 Parganas among 1249 high school children of different schools selected randomly from different boroughs of this municipality area. Goitre was searched by observation and palpation and urinary iodine was measured by FAST B method. Iodine content of salt samples was estimated using spot–testing kit. Findings: There was a 20% prevalence of goitre among the study children. It was highest in the age– group 10 – 13 years. It was not significantly associated with age but was significantly more common among the girls than boys (p < 0.05). Urinary iodine excretion of <100 µg/litre was found in 16.0% children which was not significantly associated with age but was significantly more common among girls than boys (p < 0.05). Occurrence of goiter was not significantly associated with low urinary iodine. All the salt samples had an iodine content of >15 ppm. Conclusion: Although the entire South 24 parganas district is considered to be an iodine–replete area and all salt samples tested had adequate iodine content at the consumer level, about one–fifth of the study children had goitre and quite a few (16%) had urinary iodine excretion <100 µg/litre. However, as there was no significant association between the occurrence of goitre and urinary iodine excretion, further investigations should be conducted to find out the possible role of loss of iodine in cooking process and presence of other goitrogens.