Determination of urinary iodine excretion and iodine deficiency in school-age children aged 7-11 after mandatory iodization in Canakkale, Turkiye

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to determine the iodine deficiency status of school-age children in Canakkale, whose data were not known before. METHODS: The population of the research was created from students in the 7-11 age group studying in primary schools. 316 students were selected for the study group by multi-stage stratified sampling method. Physical examinations and anthropometric measurements of the children were performed. A survey was conducted on their families regarding the use of iodized salt. Iodine level was measured spectrophotometrically from the collected spot urine sample. RESULTS: One hundred forty-nine of the study group (47.2%) were male and 167 (52.8%) were female. Mean age was 8.74 +/- 1.09 years, mean height SDS was 0.45 +/- 1.09, mean weight SDS was 0.62 +/- 1.27. Iodine deficiency was detected in 25% (79) of the study group, and most of them (20.5%) had mild iodine deficiency and 51.8% of the children. The mean iodine level in Canakkale was 15.8 +/- 8.43 mu g/dL. CONCLUSION: In our study, we showed that the average urinary iodine level in school-age children in Canakkale was sufficient. However, we showed that Canakkale is an endemic region for iodine deficiency due to its high rate of mild urinary iodine deficiency.