OBJECTIVETo evaluate the iodine nutritional status and its relation to iodized salt intake in child islanders.

METHODSA comparing study was carried out in 4 townships selected by random sampling from Dinghai (iodized salt) and Daishan(non-iodized salt) of Zhoushan island and total 592 of children were included in the study. The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the urinary iodine concentration and dietary iodine intake of two groups. The correlation of urinary iodine concentration and dietary iodine intake were examined by Spearman correlation test. Ordinal regression was used to analyse the dependent variables of urinary iodine concentration.

RESULTSThe urinary iodine concentration of non-iodized salt district was lower than that in iodized salt district (87 microg/L compared with 150 microg/L, u=7.296, P=0.000) ,whereas the amount of daily iodine intake in the two groups was 34.5 microg/d and 62.3 microg/d (u=6.925, P=0.000). The urinary iodine concentration of 58.6 % children in non-iodized salt district was below 100 microg/L. Age and iodized-salt intake were significant factors in the final regression model (P<0.05) with the OR of 1.119 and 3.238, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe daily dietary iodine intake for children in Zhoushan island is insufficient, the iodized salt prophylaxis is necessary.