Survey on Iodine Deficiency Disorders in high risk areas in Guangxi,2007

Objecives To unerstand the prevalence of cretinism in high endemic areas of Iodine Deficiency Disorders(IDD) and current progress on the disease control in 5 high risk counties in Guangxi.Methods Stratified sampling was used to screen new cases of cretinism in 34 high endemic counties.Examination and determination of indicators including salt and urinary iodine,goiter rate,intelligence quotient(IQ) and health education were conducted in 5 high risk counties.Results 7 cases of cretinism were identifed.In 3 007 children aged 8 to 10 years,the prevalance of goiter measured by palpation was 6.45% and by ultrasound 12.50%.The median urinary iodine was 262.30 μg/L for children and 233.20 μg/L for pregnant and lactating women.The children's IQ averaged 87.64,and the proportion with IQ below 69 was 16.5% and above 130 was 3.6%.680 family salt samples by semi-quantitative analysis showed a household coverage of 96.03% by iodized salt.The awareness rate for knowledge on IDD was 45.88% among housewives.Conclusion Sporadic cretinism exists in Guangxi.In addition to sustaining current achievements,we need to redirect and focus control strategies to the regions yet to reach criteria.