Analysis of status quo and prediction of iodine deficiency disease in Shandong Province

Objective To explore into the prevention situation of iodine deficiency disease (IDD) in Shandong Province so as to predict the trend of the disease. Methods The status of the iodine nutrition and local inhabitants eating edible iodized salt were evaluated by stratified randomized sampling. The effect of health education of schoolchildren and housewives were surveyed. The prevalence in the years followed was predicted using Grey Model. Results In 2004,the rate of edible qualified iodized salt was 91.2%,the goiter rate of children was 7.75% and the median of urinary iodine was 199.1μg/L. The schoolchildren and the housewives got an averaged mark of 80 and 88, respectively. They all reached or were close to the national eliminating criteria of IDD national elimination. These indicators would go in a desired way in the years followed. Conclusions The effect of IDD prevention is remarkable and will keep in a good trend.