Iodine status of pregnant mothers residing in a district of endemic iodine deficiency in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India.

For the last 40 years the Kullu district in Himachal Pradesh, India, has been recognised as an area of endemic iodine deficiency. The state government has adopted a policy of universal iodisation of salt since 1984. The iodine status of pregnant mothers is an indicator of the community status of iodine deficiency. This study was, therefore, undertaken on the iodine status of pregnant mothers to assess the impact of universal salt iodisation. A total of 147 pregnant mothers between 20-30 years of age in their second and third trimesters, attending the antenatal clinic at the district hospital, were selected for the study. Urine samples were collected from all the pregnant mothers and analysed using standard laboratory methods. It was found that 0.68% of the pregnant mothers had urinary iodine excretion between 2.0-4.9 mcg/dL, 8.8 % between 5.0-9.9 mcg/dL and 90.5% had 10 mcg/dL or more, where below 10 signifies iodine deficiency disorder (IDD). This indicates that there is a need to strengthen the implementation of the universal salt iodisation program in the Kullu district to combat IDD.