Iodine nutritional status and prevalence of goitre among school going children : a cross-sectional study to assess progress towards universal salt iodization in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh / Surya Bali, Pritish Kumar Nayak

Background and Objectives: Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) has been a major public health challenge for the Indian subcontinent over many years. Our study was conducted in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh, an Iodine deficiency disorders-endemic district, with the objective to estimate Total Goitre rate and iodine nutrition status. Methods and Study Design: A cross-sectional study with 30 cluster sampling was conducted between June to July 2016 among school-going children in the age group of 6-12 years. 90 children from each school (30x90=2700) were selected for the assessment of Goitre. Total 540 salt samples and 270 urine samples were collected to estimate salt iodine content from their house-hold and Urine Iodine Excretion (UIE) respectively. A total of 150 households and 30 shopkeepers were interviewed to understand the awareness level for salt iodization. Results: Goitre rate in Tikamgarh district was 1.9% with prevalence of Grade I&II was 1.7% and 0.2% respectively. The median UIE level was 200 mcg/L. The 20% the population had iodine deficiency, 28.9% population had adequate iodine nutrition and 51.1% population had either more than adequate level of Iodine. The 72.4% of the population consume adequately iodized salt (≥15 ppm). Conclusions: Our study concludes that Tikamgarh district is non-endemic for IDDs against the earlier classification as an IDD-endemic district. About 20% population has 'Iodine deficiency' and approximately 51.1% population has 'more than adequate iodine intake'. We recommend stringent programme monitoring, undertake periodic assessment of IDD and explore manifestations of excess iodine intake (≥300 mcg/L) such as Iodine-induced hyperthyroidism in future.

Nutrition.