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Evaluation of iodine levels in the Riverina population
Author(s) -
Uren Leanne J.,
McKenzie Geoff,
Moriarty Helen
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
australian journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.48
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1440-1584
pISSN - 1038-5282
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1584.2008.00954.x
Subject(s) - iodised salt , iodine , iodine deficiency , medicine , population , morning , cross sectional study , fortification , demography , environmental health , food science , chemistry , thyroid , organic chemistry , pathology , sociology
Objective: To assess the iodine status in a random group of adults in a rural region.Design: A cross‐sectional study; urinary iodine concentrations (UIC) were correlated with results of a questionnaire that collected demographic information.Setting: Primary care.Participants: A total of 173 adults from the Riverina region provided a morning midstream urine sample and completed a questionnaire. There were no exclusion criteria.Main outcome measures: Iodine status was based upon mean UIC (MUIC) values and categorised according to World Health Organisation criterion. Subgroups were classified according to sex, age, town, salt usage, vitamin/supplement usage, pregnant or breast‐feeding status and diet.Results: The MUIC for the study population was 79 μg L−1; 29% were iodine‐replete, 52% had mild deficiency and 18.5% were moderately to severely deficient. Use of iodised salt produced a non‐clinically significant increase in MUIC of 81 μg L−1compared with 71 μg L−1( P = 0.1907). Daily vitamin supplementation led to iodine sufficiency with a MUIC of 111 μg L −1 ( P = 0.0011). Participants aged 50–59 years had a significantly lower MUIC than participants aged 18–39 years (67 versus 89 μg L −1 , respectively, P = 0.0106). Further, the MUIC decreased with age from 18 to 59 years ( P = 0.0208). Conclusions: A mild iodine deficiency was found in this sample of the Riverina population, consistent with other Australian studies. Salt iodisation might not be an effective strategy to correct iodine deficiencies within Australia.