INCREASED LEVELS OF MEDIAN URINARY IODINE EXCRETION OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE SUBURBAN AREA, KHON KAEN, THAILAND.

Iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) is associated with a low IQ in children and is an important public health problem in northeastern Thailand. Despite campaigns to reduce IDD in northeastern Thailand, studies showed people in this region continue to have the lowest median urinary iodine (UI) excretion and Intelligence Quotient scores. We conducted a cross sectional study of median urinary iodine excretion among primary school children in suburban Khon Kaen Province, in northeastern Thailand, during December 2012 to evaluate the current status of IDD in this population. We studied 377 school children. Urine samples were collected and measured for UI using a simple microplate method. The median UI level was 229.0 μg/l (range 15.0-1,124.1). Forty school children (10.6%) had UI levels less than 100 μg/l and 10 children (2.7%) had UI levels less than 50 μg/l. One hundred nine children (28.9%) had UI levels greater than 300 μg/l. Our study shows that there are still children in the study population and study area with inadequate UI levels. Programs to prevent IDD need to include this population in this area.