Determining Iodine Status and Knowledge of Dietary Salt Restricted Hypertension Patients in Addis Ababa Hospitals, Ethiopia.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Hypertension is public health problem worldwide and the trends of prevalence have increased in economically developing countries. Reducing dietary sodium is one of the main recommendations to treatment hypertension. Restriction of salt consumption could cause a reduction of iodine intake from iodized salt. This study aims in determining iodine status and knowledge of dietary salt restricted hypertensive patients and compare with non hypertensive individuals. Methods: Institution based cross-sectional design was employed and 239 hypertensive and non hypertensive individuals were selected randomly. Urine samples were collected immediately after interviewing using iodine free cups. Results: T The MUIC were 41.56(SE9.41μg/L) and 46.14(SE7.86μg/L) in hypertensive and non hypertensive respectively. More than 76% were iodine deficient and greater than 30% were severely deficiency. The prevalence of iodine deficiency is higher in salt restricted hypertensive patients than non restricted patients but the difference was not statistically significant (P. value=0.12). Females had better knowledge about iodine than males. Hypertension patients on medication were 88% more likely to be iodine deficient than those do not receive medication. UIE of both groups are lower than the recommended intake and dietary salt restricted patients are more likely to be iodine than unrestricted. Conclusions: Iodine deficiency is a problem of dietary salt restricted hypertensive patients and to address this problem, an alternative iodine intervention mechanism should be in place. Besides, the contribution of salt for iodine status and degree of salt restriction needs to be studied.