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Hindi Research Article
Iodine Status during Pregnancy among Tea Garden Workers in Assam and its Effect on the Foetus
| Dutta HK1* and Baruah M2 | |
| 1Associate Professor, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh, India | |
| 2Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh, Assam, India | |
| Corresponding Author : | Dutta HK Department of Pediatric Surgery Assam Medical College and Hospital Dibrugarh, Assam, India Tel: 91 9435031257 E-mail: hemontdut@gmail.com |
| Received August 13, 2014; Accepted September 09, 2014; Published September 15, 2014 | |
| Citation: Dutta HK, Baruah M (2014) Iodine Status during Pregnancy among Tea Garden Workers in Assam and its Effect on the Foetus. J Preg Child Health 1:110. doi: 10.4172/2376-127X.1000110 | |
| Copyright: © 2014 Dutta HK et al.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Iodine deficiency during pregnancy causes wide spectrum of disorders in the fetus. Tea garden workers in Assam are known to have high prevalence of endemic goiter and congenital malformations. The present study is aimed to evaluate the iodine status of pregnant tea garden workers and its effect on the fetus. Urinary iodine (UI) level in casual urine samples was estimated in each trimester in 156 pregnant and 160 age-matched non-pregnant women from the same community. Although normal UI values were found in all pregnant women, significantly higher values were noted during the second trimester and among the older women. 12 babies were born preterm. Malformations were noted among 16 babies. 2 women in the control group received treatment for hypothyroid status. Normal UI recorded in the study may be because of universal consumption of iodized salt. Factors other than iodine may be responsible for the malformations noted in this study.
