title: Use of iodized salt and the prevalence of goiters in an endemic area of Bangladesh.
abstract: To find out the prevalence of goitre and assess the knowledge regarding goitre and iodized salt among the respondents in a selected goitre endemic area. This cross-sectional study included 155 respondents of purposively selected endemic villages of Nilphamary Sadar upazilla. Information was collected from all households of the villages considering one responsible person from each household. Data was collected by face to face interview through pre-tested questionnaire and checklist. Study population was 747. Department of Community Medicine, National Institute of Preventive & Social Medicine, Mohakhali, March to June 2001. Out of 155 respondents 63.87% was female and 36.13% were male. Mean age was 34.13 with +/- 10.87 and mean monthly family income was 1974.74 with +/- 1025.92 taka, only 65% had > 5000 taka. Level of education SSC and above was minimum (6.46%). Mean occupation was cultivation, day labour and housewife. Only 11.6% respondents had correct knowledge regarding goitre and 77.30% had knowledge about iodized salt. But only 58.71% respondents' families are using iodized salt according to test result by iodized salt testing solution. The prevalence of goitre among 747 people was found 8.3%, among them 4.53% were male, 12% were female and 6.96% were grade I and 1.07% were grade II (visible) goitre. The study result indicate that the prevalence of goitre still high, knowledge regarding goitre is minimum and use iodized salt is not satisfactory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Mymensingh Medical College.
authors.forename: Fazlul Haque
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Sarker
authors.forename: U K
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Taufiqun-Nessa
authors.forename: Shahjahan Ahmed
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006042:Goiter / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007455:Iodine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary; D007455:Iodine