Urinary Iodine Level and Thyroid Function of Lactating Women

Objective To investigate the status of iodine nutrition and thyroid function of lactating women. Methods The blood and urinary samples of 842 lactating women at 6-8 weeks postpartum in Dachang Area of Nanjing city were studied during 2008 to 2009. The contact spectrophotometry of acid digesting arsenic-cerium was applied to detect the urinary iodine and the electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay method was applied to detect FT3, FT4 and TSH in serum. The result was compared with that of 45 non-lactating healthy women in this area. Results 1)The median level of urinary iodine of lactating women was 176.5 μg /L, lower than the WHO recommended value, and the ratio of iodine deficiency among lactating women was up to 30.16%. 2)FT3 and FT4 levels of the lactating women whose urinary iodine 100 μg / L was relatively lower than the control group, though this difference had no statistical significance (P 0.05);while serum TSH level was higher compared with control group (P 0.05);Conclusion A variety of interventions must be adopt to improve the lactating women's knowledge of iodine nutrition as to reduce the damage of iodine deficiency to the lactating women and their infants.