A cross-sectional study on iodine status among pregnant and non-pregnant women of Tripura: a North-Eastern state of India

Background: Due to excess metabolic demand of iodine in pregnancy, pregnant women and lactating mother and their neonates are most vulnerable of iodine deficiency disorder. Urinary iodine excretion is a good marker of recent dietary iodine intake. Thus, present study was conducted to assess the iodine status and median urinary iodine excretion (UIE μg/lit) among pregnant and non-pregnant women of Tripura.Methods: Tribal and Bengali pregnant and non-pregnant women from Bokafa and Jolaibari Block of South Tripura district were included in the study. Urinary iodine excretion was done using simple micro plate method. Salt iodine was estimated using iodometric titration. All the tests were performed at CNRT Lab, ICMR, India.Results: Total number of subjects included in this study was 1071. Total number of urine samples collected from pregnant and non-pregnant women was 538 and 533 respectively. Median value of UIE in pregnant and non-pregnant women of Tripura was 155.0µg/L and 130.0µg/L. In pregnant women percentage prevalence of severe (<20µg/L), moderate (20-49µg/L) and mild iodine deficiency (50-149µg/L) was found in 4.1%, 15.1% and 29.6% subjects. In case of non-pregnant women severe (<20µg/L), moderate (20-49µg/L) and mild iodine deficiency (50-99µg/L) was found in 0.6%, 9.6%, 27.8% subjects respectively. The overall prevalence of iodine deficiency was found in 48.8% pregnant women, compared to 38.0% non-pregnant subjects.Conclusions: Efforts towards universal salt iodization need to be stepped-up in Sub-Himalayan region (NE part of India) and pregnant and lactating mothers may be targeted with alternate iodine supplements (Colloidal Iodine)

Pulmonary function of adolescents from Tripura, a North-eastern state of India

Objective: Spirometric evaluation of pulmonary function has been evolved as clinical tool in diagnosis, management, and follow-up of respiratory disorders. There are very few studies on normative reference values of pulmonary function parameters for adolescents from Tripura, a North-eastern state of India. The present study was aimed to evaluate pulmonary function and their predictors in male and female adolescents of Tripura. Materials and Methods: A total of 640 (320 from tribal and 320 non-tribal) healthy, non-smoking male and female school children (age 10-14 years) from four different districts of Tripura were randomly sampled for the study. The pulmonary function parameters analysed included forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ), peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% expired volume (FEF 25-75% ), ratio of FEV 1 /FVC and maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV). Results: The results revealed that body weight, body mass index (BMI), PEFR, FEF 25-75% and MVV are significantly high among male tribal children in comparison to non-tribal children. Height, weight, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), PEFR and MVV were found to be significantly more in tribal girls. In case of adolescents from Tripura, most of the pulmonary function parameters correlated with anthropometric parameters of the subject like height, weight, BMI, WHR, and WHtR. Conclusion: From the present study, it can be concluded that both anthropometric and pulmonary function status of tribal and non-tribal adolescents from Tripura are comparable. The computed regression norms may be used to predict pulmonary function of adolescents from Tripura by using anthropometric indices