NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH IODINE STATUS AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS IN SHAHRIAR

Background and Aim: Adequate iodine intake in child-bearing age has an important role on thyroid hormones as well as fetus neurodevelopment during pregnancy. As most studies have been done among school-aged children and there is limited data in female adolescents as a susceptible group and future mothers, this study was aimed to assess the relationship between iodine status and knowledge about iodine and iodine deficiency disorders in adolescent school girls aged 14-19 years in Shahriar, Tehran.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 223 female students selected from Shahriar schools using multi-stage cluster sampling. Urinary iodine and creatinine concentrations were measured and knowledge about iodine and iodine deficiency disorders was assessed using a self-structured questionnaire. Knowledge score (estimated from 25 questions) was categorized in to quartiles (called as poor, moderate, relatively fair and fair) to examine the association between knowledge and iodine status.Results: Median urinary iodine and creatinine concentrations were 129 µg/L and 1.86 mg/dL, respectively. About one third of the subjects (36.7%) had mild and moderate iodine deficiency. Knowledge score was 12.7±3.44 (ranged from 0-19) while 25.1% and 24.2% showed poor and fair knowledge, respectively. There was a significant relationship between iodine status and knowledge status i.e. those with poor inadequate iodine status had poor knowledge about iodine and iodine deficiency disorders (P=0.023).Conclusion: Our results indicate that adolescent girls in Shahriar have relatively poor knowledge about iodine and around half of them suffer from iodine deficiency

Keywords:

Iodine , Iodine deficiency disorders , Knowledge , Adolescents