MONITORING THE LEVELS OF URINARY IODINE IN SCHOOL CHILDREN AGED 8-10 YEARS IN EAST AZERBAIJAN PROVINCE IN 2017

Background and Aim: Iodine deficiency disorders were known as a major health and nutritional problems in Iran. Although, iodine deficiency in Iran has been controlled since 1995 and WHO has been declared Iran as a country without iodine deficiency since 2017, iodine deficiency can never be eradicated and the risk of potential return remains high. Therefore, iodine periodic monitoring is necessary in control and prevention programs. Considering this and taking into account that the principle way to ensure adequate iodine in iodized salt is determination of urinary iodine excretion, in this study, the levels of urinary iodine in school children aged 8-10 years in East Azerbaijan Province in 2017 was investigated.Methods: In this cross sectional study, 240 urine samples were collected from students aged 8-10 years in the province. Clustered sampling was used to select students and 10 cc of urine were collected from each student. Urinary iodine were assessed using oxidation method with ammonium sulfate and quantitatively measured by spectrophotometry. The results were analyzed using SPSS software.Results: The mean and median of urinary iodine were 15.5 and 12.6 µg/dl, respectively. Urinary iodine was not less than 2 µg/dl in any samples. Urinary iodine less than 5 and 5-10 µg/dl were found in 14.22% and 23.43% of samples respectively. In 46.3% of samples, the iodine concentration was 10-29 µg/dl.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the iodine deficiency disorders control programs through salt iodization has been very effective. Considering the median urinary iodine in the students, this province can be considered as free of iodine deficiency disorders.

Keywords:

Urinary iodine , students , East Azerbaijan