Introduction: Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) are the most common epidemiological problems in the world, including our country. In order to prevent IDD and its consequences, iodized table salt is being used in our country since 1989. At present, this program is 18 years old. The surveillance of IDD may be implemented to assess the prevalence of IDD, identify high risk areas for intervention and monitor and evaluate IDD control programs. Aim of this study was to determine prevalence of goiter and urinary iodine rate in 6-11 year old primary school children in Chahak area of Yazd. Methods: In this prevalence study, 530 primary school students aged 6-11 were selected by census. Thyroid examination and goiter classification was done according to WHO standards by one trained physician. From one–fourth of the total population, urine samples were taken and the household salt consumed by them was tested for iodine. Urinary iodine was determined by digestion method. Iodine of salt was determined by rapid test kit. Total goiter rate (TGR) was defined as sum of goiter grade I and II. Data was analyzed by SPSS software. Results: TGR, goiter 2 and grade 1 in Chahak areas were 29.1%, 25.1 and 4%, respectively. Prevalence of goiter grade2 in girls and boys was 3.3 and 4.7%, respectively (PV=0.6).TGR in 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 age groups was 15, 26.5, 27.5, 21.7, 31.1 and 37.9 (PV=0.93), respectively. TGR in Chahak, Shahriyary and Bakhtyary villages was 20.8, 36.9 and 68.7 (PV<0.001), respectively. In general, urinary iodine of 19.3% of population was less than 100 μ/l, 51.3% was in the ideal range and 29.3% was more than 200 μ/l. Overall mean of the urinary iodine was 162.7+56.3μg/l. Mean of the urinary iodine in Chahak, Shahriyery and Bakhtiyary villages was155+54,185+51 and 149.6+68 μg/l, respectively (PV=0.01). All of the household salt samples had iodine of which 2.7% had 8ppm,68.7.% had 15ppm and 28.6 had above 30ppm. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that despite the relatively ideal range of urinary iodine in study areas, the TGR was greater than the WHO target value, especially in Bakhtiyary village. Thus, further investigations are needed for finding the other causes of this problem.

Keywords: Iodine deficiency, Endemic goiter, Urinary iodine, Iodized salt, Iodine deficiency disorder (IDD)

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