Investigation of the nutrition status of the focus groups of iodine deficiency in coastal areas in Guangxi in 2008

Objective To investigate the nutrition status of the focus groups of iodine deficiency in the 5 coastal counties(districts)in Guangxi in 2008 to propose corresponding prevention and control measures.Methods In the 5 coastal counties(districts)in Guangxi,including Haicheng,Tieshangang,Yinhai districts and Hepu county in Beihai city,Qinnan district in Qinzhou city,the rates of iodized salt coverage,qualified iodized salt and consumption of qualified iodized salt had always been below the average level of Guangxi.In the study,6 towns were randomly picked in Hepu district,and 3 towns were randomly picked in each of the other 4 coastal counties(districts).Two administrative viRages were randomly picked in each town.Forty children ages 8 to 10 and 10 women of child-beating age from 18 to 42 which included 5 pregnant and lactating women,were picked from each administrative village.Arsenic-cerium catalyzed spectrophotometry(WS/T 107-2006)Was used to determine the urinary iodine.Results In total,1437 urine samples of the children Were picked.The median of the children's urinary iodine Was 191.0μg/L,with 1.4%(20/1437)of the children's urinary iodine<20 μg/L,and 5.4%(77/1437)<50 μg/L, and 20.3%(292/1437) < 100 μg/L. The medians of the children's urinary iodine were 134.5 - 220.0 μg/L.In Haicheng and Hepu, the medians of the children's urinary iodine were higher than 200 μg/L(220.0,209.5 μg/L, respectively). The medians of the children's urinary iodine in the other 3 counties(districts) were within the suitable range between 100 and 200 μg/L(134.5,162.4,199.3 μg/L, respectively). The medians of the 8- and 9-year-old ehildren's urinary iodine (192.3,206.7 μg/L, respectively) were higher than that of the 10-year-old children's(157.2 μg/L, χ2 = 19.644,41.997, all P < 0.017). Totally, 365 urine samples of the women were picked.The medians of the women's urinary iodine in the 5 counties were 88.2 - 195.6 μg/L, with 195.6 μg/L in Haicheng and 156.5 μg/L in Hepu, and 88.2 μg/L in Tieshangang, which was the lowest and below 100 μg/L. The median of the childbearing-age women's urinary iodine was the highest(152.6 μg/L). The median of the lactating women's urinary iodine was the second (131.9 μg/L). The median of the pregnant women's urinary iodine was the lowest (89.4 μg/L) and below 100 μg/L. Only 6.7%(2/30) of the pregnant women's urinary iodine were within the suitable range between 150 and 250 μg,/L. Conclusions In the 5 coastal counties(districts) in Guangxi, 8 to 10-year-old children had good nutrition levels while childbearing-age and lactating women were within the suitable range. As a whole, the pregnant women had insufficient iodine nutrition. We propose that the iodine nutritional status of pregnant women is monitored routinely, with further prevention, control measures, health publicity and education necessary to improve iodized salt coverage. Key words: Iodine; Deficiency diseases; Urine; Salts; Outcome assessment