Comparison of Iodine Status between Adult and Adolescent Pregnant Women at a Maternity Hospital in Dhaka City

Abstract

Iodine deficiency is a major public health problem for populations throughout the world,
particularly for pregnant women and young children. It is a menace to the social and
economic development of a country. The most devastating effects of iodine deficiency
are increased perinatal mortality and mental retardation. The aim of this study was to
describe and compare the magnitude and severity of IDD among adolescent and adult
pregnant mothers in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted among
adolescent and adult pregnant women (n =210) dui'ing the months of July 2006 to
September 2006. Maternal urinary iodine excretion (UIE) was determined (n =210)
together with estimation of salt iodine content (n =87) of the consumed salt sample
collected. Data was analyzed using SPSS var.l2. Considerable number of adolescent
(21.8%) and adult (21.9%) pregnant mothers were suffering from iodine deficiency (UBE
<100 \igfL), although there was no significant difference in iodine deficiency among
these two groups (p =0.74) and between age and gestational age of the respondents. The
overall median urinary iodine levels were 176.6 and 191.5 /xg/L in adolescent and adult
pregnant mothers respectively. About 30.0% of the respondents had UIE greater than 300
/xg/L and 16.7% of the respondents had UEE within the range of 200-299.9 /xg/L. Salt
intake shows a large variation in iodine content (the minimum and maximum values were
15.2 and 64.3 mg/kg for adolescent group and 9.1 and 104.7 mg/kg for adult group) and
significant con'elation (Spearman’s rho, P<0.05) was found between UIE (/xg/L) and salt
iodine intake (mg/kg). Therefore, findings of the present study suggest that biochemical
iodine deficiency persist among the adult and adolescent pregnant mothers, though the
median UIE level falls within the optimal iodine nutrition status. Significant association
was found between salt iodine intake and urinary iodine excretion.