Iodine deficiency and its associated factors among primary school children in Anchar district, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background

Iodine deficiency is a major public health problem in Ethiopia. Most of the studies in Ethiopia were done on clinical goiter without assessing the subclinical iodine deficiency. Therefore, there was a need to study the magnitude and associated factors of iodine deficiency among school-age children in Eastern Ethiopia.

Subjects and methods

A school-based cross-sectional study design was used to assess the iodine level of 200 primary school children aged 6–12 years who were selected by using the multistage sampling technique. The study used an interview-administered questionnaire and checklists to collect data from the respondents. Data were entered to EpiData version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 22.0 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable analyses were conducted, and statistical significance was declared at p value ≤0.05.

Results

The median urinary iodine concentration of the children was 146 µg/L, and 31% had median urinary iodine concentration below the acceptable level (<100 µg/L). Female sex (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=3.12, 95% CI: 1.52, 6.39), family size ≥5 (AOR=2.24, 95% CI: 1.06, 4.75), having no awareness of a balanced diet (AOR=3.25, 95% CI: 1.37, 7.71), and cabbage consumption ≥2 times per week (AOR=3.01, 95% CI: 1.31, 6.93) were the significant associated factors.

Conclusion and recommendation

Ethiopia is implementing the universal iodization of salt. However, urinary iodine deficiency and utilization of inadequately iodized salt were high in the study area. Therefore, the health sectors of the study site should disseminate messages to increase the awareness on iodized salt, iodine-rich foods, and goiterogens.

Keywords:

• iodine deficiency
• primary school
• children
• Anchar district

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the staff of the west Hararghe Zone and Anchar district health and education offices, school principals, data collectors, supervisors, study participants, and local language translators for translating the questionnaire. Muzemil Muktar (the first author) sponsored the study. In addition, the Ethiopian Public Health Institution helped in urinary data analysis.

Author contributions

All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting and revising the paper and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflict of interest in this work.