A Clinico-epidemiological Study to Evaluate the Status of Iodine Deficiency Disorder in North 24 Pargana District of West Bengal

Background: Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) being major public health problems in India, including WestBengal needs to be continuously monitored through recommended methods and indicators.Present study is aiming to assess the total goiter rate, urinary iodine excretion, iodine content of salts at households’ level among primary school children and to find association with the socio-demographic characteristics of the study population.Method: A school-based, cross-sectional study was conducted during March 2019 to August 2019 among 540schoolchildren of class three and four. Goiter was assessed by standard palpation technique, urinary iodineexcretion (UIE) was analyzed by wet digestion method and salt samples were tested by spot iodine testing kits.The total goiter rate (TGR) was 10.56 %. About 97.22 % of the salt samples tested were adequately iodized. Though consumption of iodized salt was adequate irrespective of socio demographic characteristics; goiter prevalence was significantly different with respect to mother’s education level. Median urinary iodine excretion was found to be with in normal range. Lastly, a comparison is made between indicators of IDD over years which showed significant fall of TGR % of North 24 Pgs and a significant increase of adequately iodized salt consumption from 2004 to 2019.Conclucion: 2019 resurvey of North 24 parganas indicates that the district achieved close to the goal of NIDDCP i.e. prevalence of IDD should be below 10%. It also proved that universal salt iodinization program has increased the household’s iodine consumption above national goal of 91.2%. Goiter prevalence is found to be less in children whose mother attend the education up to 12th standard and beyond.