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 Background and Objectives: Iodine deficiency disorders have been one of the main health-nutritional problems in Iran for many years. Prior to the iodine-supplementation program, Ardabil province was one of the regions with endemic goiter in Iran. The program of control and prevention of iodine deficiency has been performed here since 1989 through production, distribution and consumption of iodized salt. This study was performed in 2001 on 7-10 years-old pupils of Ardabil as a part of national monitoring survey of iodine deficiency control.

 Methods: In a cross sectional- descriptive study, 1200 students (equal number of boys and girls) were selected randomly. The prevalence of goiter was determined by clinical examination and according to WHO classification. Urinary iodine content was determined in one tenth of the cases using digestion method.

 Results: Total goiter rate was 9.3 in all the subjects (10.7% in girls and 7.9% in boys). Median urinary iodine was 18.8µg/dl. In 80.7% of the cases urinary iodine was above 10µg/dl and was less than 5µg/dl in 4.2%. Urinary iodine below 2µg/dl was not observed.

 Conclusion: The results showed that the rate of goiter among pupils has significantly decreased since 1996 and urinary iodine levels in schoolchildren of Ardabil complied with WHO index. So, Ardabil province can be considered as an “iodine deficiency free” zone.

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Background & Objective: Iodine deficiency is one of the most important life-threatening factors from the beginning and encounter irreversible damage to human. This study aimed to investigate stability of Iodine in iodized salt in different situations such as light and humidity and comparing it with standard amounts.
Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study, 12 samples of iodized salts which have been distributed in Damghan, were accidentally selected. Samples were examined in the chemistry laboratory of Faculty of Health (Damghan University of Medical Sciences) using titration method recommended by British pharmacopeh. 10 mg of each iodized salts were kept at presence of light, darkness, humidity, and non- humidity situation and then titration method was performed. The samples were kept for two weeks and examined weekly. Data were analyzed with T paired and ANOVA tests using SPSS software.
Results: Findings of this study showed that reduction of Iodine was seen for all samples. The amount of reduction were 2.2, 1.5, 4.1 and 2.1 mg/l for purified salts at light, darkness, humidity, and non- humidity situation, respectively. The amount of reduction were 3.4, 2.1, 5.35 and 2.6 mg/l for non-purified salts at light, darkness, humidity, and non- humidity situation, respectively. In spite of reduction in Iodine, concentration of it was at standard amount (30-50 PPM).
Conclusion: Results showed that stability of iodine was more when salt was exposed to darkness in comparison with light situation (p< 0.09). Meanwhile, the stability of purified salts was more than the non- purified salts (p< 0.28). Also, stability of iodine was less at humidity in comparison with non- humid situation (p< 0.006). The purified salts which was exposed to humidity was much stable compared to the non- purified salts (p< 0.28). It also, demonstrated that the amount of iodine stability was more for salts which was exposed to light in comparison with humidity (p< 0.05).