Study on Prevalence of lodine Deficiency Disorder and Salt Consumption Patterns in Jammu Region

RESEARCH QUESTION: What is the situation of iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) and salt consumption in Jammu region? HYPOTHESIS: The prevalence of IDD has decreased markedly as a result of medical as well as socio-economic factors. OBJECTIVE: To assess the magnitude of IDD in Jammu region and also assess the salt consumption patterns in the region. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Primary schools in both urban and rural areas. STUDY TOOLS: Clinical examination of study population for goiter, laboratory assessment of casual urine sample for urinary iodine estimation of I(2) content of salt samples collected from sub-samples of study population. PARTICIPANTS: School children in the age group of 6-12 years were selected for study using WHO 30-cluster methodology, urine samples were collected from 15% of selected children and salt samples from 5% of sub-sample. ETHICAL CONCERN: No ethical issues were involved. RESULTS: An overall goiter prevalence of 11.98% was observed in the region. Females had a prevalence of 16.1% and males 10.1%. The median urinary iodine excretion in the region was 96.5 μg/l (range: 29.0-190.0 μg/l). Forty-nine percent of subjects had biochemical iodine deficiency with 6.7% having moderate and 42.53% mild iodine deficiency. In Jammu region, 74.47% of households consume powdered salt with 98.17% powdered salt samples having an I(2) content of greater than 15 ppm. CONCLUSION: Iodine deficiency remains a public health problem in the region, though the region seems to be in a state of nutritional transition from iodine deficiency to iodine sufficiency.