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Assessment
of current iodine status
of pregnant women in a suburban area of Imo State Nigeria,
twelve years after universal salt iodization
Cosmas O. Ujowundu*, Agwu I. Ukoha, Comfort N. Agha, Ngwu
Nwachukwu and Kalu O. Igwe
Biochemistry Department, Federal University of Technology,
Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
ujowundu@yahoo.com.
Accepted 09 December, 2009 |
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Three
hundred and two pregnant women participated in this study.
Our results showed that the range, mean and median urinary
iodine excretion (UIE) were 28.1 to 218.1, 152.09 ± 41.65
and 163.1 µg/l, respectively. The range, mean and median TSH
concentration were 0.7 - 5.9, 1.4 ± 0.7 and 1.3 µIU/ml,
respectively. Our results showed that none of the women have
severe iodine deficiency, 2% had moderate iodine deficiency,
12% had mild iodine deficiency, while 80% had optimal iodine
nutrition and 6% have more than adequate. We observed a
progressive and significant (P = 0.0009) decrease in the
mean UIE from the 1st to the 3rd trimester. We observed also
that 95% of the pregnant women had TSH concentration within
the normal range. The TSH values between the three
trimesters showed no significant difference (P = 1.20).
The Urinary Iodine Excretion and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone
concentration values suggest that iodine deficiency has been
eliminated as a public health problem in Orlu. The
progressive decrease in the median UIE from the 1st to the
3rd trimester should be addressed to meet the increased
demand of iodine as a result of the pregnancy.
Key
words: Urinary
iodine, thyroid stimulating hormone,
iodine deficiency, hyperthyroidism, pregnant
women,
Orlu, Nigeria. |
