Thyroid Status of School Going Children in Northern Part of Bangladesh

Abstract

Iodine plays a decisive role and regulates th)roid function in metabolism for the process of early growth and developmenl of mosl organs, especially of the brain. Lack of iodine in the diet can cause a spectrum of conditions, known as iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) a problem of alanning magnitude in Bangladesh. One fifth of the total population has goiter, a disorder caused by iodine deficiency. Forty-three percenl have either clinical or sub clinical evidence ofIDD and mental retardation due to IDD is estimated to affect 0.4 percent of the population Northern part (study area, Dinajpur district) of Bangladesh is a h)per endemic :rone of TDD (Khaliullah et al., 1996, HK.I 2002, Yusuf el al., 2008). The presenl sLudy was a school-based, cross-sectional one conducted over a period of four years from July 2004 to June 2008. A total of 1060 school children between the ages of G - 15 yrs (median was 10.44 ±2.49 SD) from 30 dif:reren1 educational institutes / schools in Dinajpur district silUaled in the Northern part of Bangladesh (a hyper endemic iodine deficient zone) were examined for the presence of goiler by palpation method and their blood and urine samples were sub_iected to biochemical analysis to find out 1he thyroid hormone (f 3, T ,i, TSH) and urinary iodine levels (UIE). Meamrement of weighl and heighl were made m. per recommendation of WHO/UNICEF/ICCIDD (2001). The nutritional slal.us of school children was evaluated according to height and weight z-scores and the prevalence of underweight., stunting and wasting were lo be calculated according WHO recommended cul-off points Dal.a was collecled through two slruclured questionnaire conlaining all the variables of inleresl and also included information on knowledge of iodine nutrition among molhers (rF3 l 2) of study children regarding their socio-demographic variables. -------