Goitre Is No Longer Prevalent and Urinary Iodine Excretion Is above Normal among School Going Children in Jabalpur, India: Is This Major Health Problem Already Solved?

Abstract

Iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) is a major public health problem in India. We conducted this study to assess goitre prevalence, urinary iodine excretion (UIE) among school children and to determine iodine concentration in salt samples at consumer level, in Jabalpur district. We adopted "30 cluster" sampling, recommended by joint WHO/UNICEF/ICCIDD Consultation. A total of 2700 children were examined and 540 salt samples and 267 urine samples were collected. Also 150 households and 30 shopkeepers were interviewed for awareness about salt iodization. Total goitre prevalence rate was 2.2% with median UIE level as 218 μg/l and 19.1% of population had adequate iodine intake. About 90.6% of studied population consumed adequately iodized salt. Jabalpur is now no more an endemic area for goitre. The district has achieved the target of universal salt iodization (USI) but now proceeding towards toxicity. Hence the concern is the need of sustainability of the policy of USI.