Iodine Nutritional Status among Pregnant Women of Murshidabad District in West Bengal

Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) is a significant public health problem in the world including India. Although the number of countries with iodine deficiency decreased, still in several studies conducted around the world the pregnant women have been found to be particularly vulnerable to IDD. Totally 315 pregnant women (aged between 18-45 yrs) were clinically examined for goiter from three sub divisions of Murshidabad district. The overall goiter prevalence was found to be 18.7%. Most of the goiter was palpable (grade 1) however, visible goiter also existed. To evaluate the occurrence of associated iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) every pregnant woman was examined or enquired individually. In the studied population, most prevalent abnormalities were feeble mindedness (38.4%) followed by deaf mutism (10.4%), squint (1.9%), miscarriage (8.3%) and still birth (2.5%). Urinary iodine and thiocyanate concentrations were measured for all subjects and the mean and median Urinary Iodine (UI) were found to be 12.6 ± 9.3 μg/dl and 11.1 μg/dl respectively. The mean and median thiocyanate excretion levels were 0.614 ± 0.23 mg/dl and 0.545 mg/dl respectively. The overall clinical observations suggest that the pregnant women of the studied region are affected by goiter or they are iodine deficient but biochemically they have no iodine deficiency as evidenced by their urinary iodine excretion pattern. They consume foods containing thiocyanate precursors as evidenced by urinary thiocyanate excretion pattern. Thus in spite of the consumption of adequate iodine, existing goiter prevalence may be due to the consumption of dietary goitrogens/antithyroid substances that possibly come through food and water.