title: The effect of scrubbing hands with iodine-containing solutions on urinary iodine concentrations of the operating room staff.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Excessive iodine exposure is associated with thyroid dysfunction and thyroid autoimmunity. Most surgical hand-scrub solutions contain large amounts of iodine, and transcutaneous and mucosal absorption of iodine from these antiseptic solutions has been demonstrated. In this study we determined the effect of hand scrubbing with iodine-containing surgical hand-scrub solutions on urinary iodine concentrations (UICs) in operating room staff.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 117 surgeons and surgical nurses from two different hospitals who often used surgical hand-scrub solutions as the iodine exposure group and 92 age-matched hospital staff from nonsurgical units of the same hospitals as the controls. In the iodine exposure group, 39 subjects (from hospital 1) used iodine-containing hand scrub solutions intermittently, and the remaining 78 in the surgical staff (from hospital 2) used only iodine-containing hand-scrub solutions. Morning spot urine specimens were collected from all participants for the analysis of UIC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The operating room staff had significantly higher UICs compared to the control group (142 μg/L [12-822 μg/L] vs. 89 μg/L [10-429 μg/L], p<0.001). UICs from 39% of the subjects from hospital 2 were found to reach levels higher than 300 μg/L.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Scrubbing with iodine-containing solutions might lead to iodine excess among surgical staff. Further studies investigating the effects of hand scrubbing with iodine-containing products on thyroid function and on thyroid antibodies of the operating room staff are needed to determine the consequences of this high iodine exposure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat Faik
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Erdoğan
authors.forename: Fatma Atalay
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Tatar
authors.forename: Uğur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Unlütürk
authors.forename: Necat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cin
authors.forename: Ali Rıza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Uysal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000985:Antisepsis; D005260:Female; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007455:Iodine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D009873:Operating Rooms; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local; D007455:Iodine