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Urinary Iodine Concentration of Pregnant Women and Female Adolescents as an Indicator of Excessive Iodine Intake in Sri Lanka
Background Mild deficiencies and excesses of iodine have deleterious effects in both females and males. The iodine status of the population after implementation of the universal salt iodization program in Sri Lanka is not known. Objective This cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the iodi...
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Published in: | Food and nutrition bulletin 2006-03, Vol.27 (1), p.12-18 |
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Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Background
Mild deficiencies and excesses of iodine have deleterious effects in both females and males. The iodine status of the population after implementation of the universal salt iodization program in Sri Lanka is not known.
Objective
This cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the iodine status of pregnant women and female adolescents, with urinary iodine concentration used as the measure of outcome.
Methods
The participants were 100 women in the first trimester of pregnancy and 99 female adolescents in Kuliyapitiya, Kurunegala District, North-Western Province, Sri Lanka. The urinary iodine concentration was measured in a casual urine sample from each subject. The iodate contents of salt samples collected from households of the adolescents participating in the study were also measured.
Results
The median urinary iodine concentration of 185.0 μg/L and the prevalence of values under 50 μg/L of only 1% among the pregnant women indicate adequate iodine intake and optimal iodine nutrition. The median urinary iodine concentration (213.1 μg/L) among female adolescents indicates a more than adequate iodine intake and a risk of iodine-induced hyperthyroidism. Approximately 8% and 4% of the adolescents and pregnant women, respectively, had urinary iodine concentrations in the range of mild iodine deficiency (51 to 100 μg/L). More than half of the adolescents (56%) and 39% of the pregnant women had urinary iodine concentrations higher than optimal. The median iodine content in salt samples was 12.7 ppm. Only 20.2% of the samples were adequately iodized, and 10.1% of the samples had very high iodine levels.
Conclusions
Female adolescents and pregnant women had no iodine deficiency, but a considerable proportion of them, especially female adolescents, were at risk for iodine-induced hyperthyroidism. There is thus a need for proper monitoring of the salt iodization program to achieve acceptable iodine status. |
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ISSN: | 1564-8265 0379-5721 1564-8265 |
DOI: | 10.1177/156482650602700102 |