title: Goiter prevalence in school-going children: A cross-sectional study in two border districts of sub-Himalayan Jammu and Kashmir.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Iodine deficiency disorder remains one of the major public health problems, despite it being easily preventable. Initially thought as the disorder of Himalayan goiter belt, the disorder has been found to have a pan-India presence. The study was planned with the aim to assess the prevalence of goiter among 6-12 years school-going children and to identify levels of iodine in salt consumed at the household level in the study area.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted among 3955 school-going (2162 children from Rajouri and 1793 children from Poonch) children age 6-12 years in Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu Province. The children were examined clinically to detect and grade the goiter. Salt samples were collected from subsample (n= 400) to estimate iodine content in the salt.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of goiter in the study population was found to be 18.87% and 9.70% in Rajouri and Poonch districts, respectively. Goiter prevalence was higher in 9-12 years age group as compared to 6-9 years age group and the difference in goiter prevalence in males of these two age groups was statistically significant (P= 0.02). Estimation of iodine content of the salt samples revealed that all of them (100%) had adequate iodine content.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite the implementation of Universal Iodization Program and adequate content of iodine in salt consumed by the families, the goiter prevalence in both the districts is high. The future research should focus on identifying the reasons for this high prevalence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Rajiv Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Bhavna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Dr. RP Govt. Medical College, Tanda, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Sunil Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Raina
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Rashmi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumari
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Reyaz
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jan
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Renu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rani
keywords: Goiter; iodine deficiency; iodized salt