Household Coverage with Adequately Iodized Salt and Iodine Status of Nonpregnant and Pregnant Women in Uzbekistan

Rohner F, Nizamov F, Petry N, Yuldasheva F, Ismailov R, Wegmüller R, Guo S, Wirth JP, Woodruff BA

March 2020 – Thyroid

We conducted a cross-sectional household survey to produce region-specific estimates of the household coverage with adequately iodized salt and iodine status among women for each of the 14 regions in Uzbekistan. Overall, 36% of 3413 households had adequately iodized salt (iodine concentration >15 ppm [parts per million (mg I/kg salt)]), 20% had inadequately iodized salt (5–14 ppm), and 44% had salt without detectable iodine (<5 ppm). Adequate iodization was found in 33.2% of the 2626 salt samples taken from retail packages labeled as ‘‘iodized,’’ 36.5% of the 96 samples taken from retail packages without mention of iodization, and 50.5% of the 674 samples without the original packaging ( p < 0.001). The median urinary iodine concentration (UIC) of 140.9 lg/L in non-pregnant non-lactating women indicated adequate iodine status, while for non-pregnant lactating and pregnant women, the median UIC of 112.9 ug/L [CI 99.3–128.4] and 117.3 ug/L [CI 101.8–139.9], respectively, indicated borderline adequacy. Significant differences in UIC ( p < 0.001) were found between non-pregnant non-lactating women living in households with adequately iodized salt (UIC 208.9 ug/L), inadequately iodized salt (UIC 139.1 ug/L), and non-iodized salt (UIC 89.9 ug/L). Coverage with adequately iodized salt is low in Uzbekistan, and women in households with poorly iodized salt have substantially worse iodine status; claims on packaging about salt iodization do not reflect salt iodine content.