Prevalence of goiter in a rural community in Sri Lanka.
The prevalence of goiter in a rural community was determined in a defined geographical area, namely, the Hindagala Community Health Project (HCHP). In this area which is divided into six Public Health Midwife (PHM) areas, the mean altitude varies from 450 to 775 meters. The house-to-house goiter survey conducted by the trained field health staff covered 70% of the population. The total goiter prevalence was 7% while the prevalence of visible goiter was 2.8%. The goiter prevalence was higher in the females than in the males at all age groups. Among males, the prevalence was highest in the school-going age group 6-18 years, while among females the highest prevalence was in the early childbearing period of 19-34 years. Further, an increasing trend in the prevalence was observed with increase in mean altitude of the PHM area. Correlation between community prevalence and age-sex specific prevalence gave the best relationship with the 6-18 year age group and a regression equation to predict the community prevalence from the prevalence in the school-going age group is presented.
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
S L
SL
Katugampola
S
S
Balasuriya
M A
MA
Fernando
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000531:Altitude; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006042:Goiter / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D013188:Sri Lanka / Q000453:epidemiology