title: Iodine deficiency disorders among primary school children in eastern Nepal.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the iodine status among primary school children of Dhankuta and Dharan in eastern Nepal.
  
  
  METHODS
  A population based cross sectional study was conducted on schools of Dhankuta and Dharan from January-March 2008. 385 samples of both urine and salt were collected from school children aged 6-11 yrs. Urinary iodine excretion (UIE) was measured in casual urine samples by the ammonium-persulphate digestion microplate (APDM) method and salt iodine content by using a semi quantitative rapid test kit.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median UIEs of school children of Dhankuta and Dharan were 157.1 μg/L and 180.3 μg/L respectively. The percentage of iodine deficient (UIE <100 μg/L) children were 26.6% in Dhankuta and 15.6% in Dharan. The majority of children consumed packet salt. The percentages of salt samples with adequately iodized salt (≥ 15 ppm) were 81.3% in Dhankuta and 89.6% in Dharan.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Eastern Nepal is continuously progressing towards the sustainable elimination of iodine deficiency disease as illustrated by a normal median UIE and the majority of households consuming adequately iodized packet salt. It is necessary to maintain the program continuously to ensure adequate iodine nutrition of the population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal.
authors.forename: Basanta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gelal
authors.forename: Rajendra K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Chaudhari
authors.forename: Ashwini K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Nepal
authors.forename: Gauri S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Sah
authors.forename: Madhab
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lamsal
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Brodie
authors.forename: Nirmal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baral
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003677:Deficiency Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007455:Iodine / Q000172:deficiency*; D009390:Nepal / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D007455:Iodine