Assessment of iodine status of the school children of Lagadigoth VDC of Siraha District

• Published in: Indian journal of clinical biochemistry Vol. 31; no. S1; p. S114
• Main Authors: Gelal, Basanta, Thapa, Saroj, Kunwar, Saroj, Lamsal, Madhab, Baral, Nirmal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 01-12-2016
• Subjects: Children; Elementary school students
• ISSN: 0970-1915

Introduction: Nepal is considered as endemic zone of iodine deficiency. Iodine deficiency is still a significant public health problem in Nepal, 19.4% school age children (SAC) has UIE < 100 pg/L. Lagadigoth VDC of Siraha district located on the Nepal-India boarder. Aims and Objectives: To explore the iodine status of the school children of Lagadigoth VDC of Siraha District. Materials and Methods: A community based cross section study was conducted in three schools of Lagadigoth VDC of Siraha district. A total of 419 school children of 6-13 years were recruited for the study to collect urine and salt samples for urinary iodine concentration (UIC) and salt iodine content. Data were expressed in frequency, mean [+ or -] SD and median (IQR) and applied Chi-square test, independent 't' test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman's rho correlation according to the nature data to test the significance considering p<0.05 at 95% confidence interval. Results: A total of 419 school children were enrolled in this study out of them 239 (57.0%) were male and 180 (43.0%) were female. The coverage of the packet and adequately iodized (>15 ppm iodine) salt are 85.2% and 89% respectively. The median UIC of the study population is 234.20 [micro]g/L and 11.5% children has UIC <20 [micro]g/L. Conclusion: Median UIC and adequately iodized coverage in all areas shows the adequate iodine intake and optimal iodine nutrition in the study population but still iodine deficiency exist, which should be monitored continuously. Keywords: Iodine deficiency, School age children, Urinary iodine concentration, Salt iodine content.