Assessment of iodine deficiency disorders using the 30 cluster approach in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
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1996-12-01
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OBJECTIVE: Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) are a major public health problem in India. The National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi is a known iodine deficiency endemic area. The Delhi Government banned the sale of non-iodised salt since 1989. The present study was conducted to assess the status of IDD after 7 years of salt iodisation programme in the state. DESIGN: Cross sectional.
METHODOLOGY: The recent indicators recommended by the World Health Organization-United Nations Childrens Fund-International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (WHO-UNICEF-ICCIDD) were utilized for the assessment of IDD. A total of 30 clusters were selected using population proportionate to size cluster sampling procedure. In each identified cluster, one primary school was selected using random sampling. A total of 6911 school children in the age group of 8-10 years were included for the study.
RESULTS: The total goiter prevalence rate was 8.6% while 2.1, 8.4, 17.6 and 71.9% of the children had urinary iodine excretion levels of < 2, 2-4.9, 5-9.9 and 10 and above mcg/dl, respectively. The median urinary iodine excretion was 17 mcg/dl. Of the 1854 salt samples analyzed, salt with a nil iodine content was consumed only by 1.4% of the beneficiaries. Forty one per cent of families consumed salt with an iodine content of less than 15 ppm.
CONCLUSION: IDD continues to be a public-health problem in the NCT of Delhi. There is a need of strengthening the existing monitoring system for the quality of iodised salt.
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Kapil U, Saxena N, Ramachandran S, Balamurugan A, Nayar D, Prakash S. Assessment of iodine deficiency disorders using the 30 cluster approach in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Indian Pediatrics. 1996 Dec; 33(12): 1013-7