Armenia's experience in achieving an adequate iodine status of the population

Abstract

Armenia was one of the first post-Soviet countries, that after a relatively short break has restored the production of iodized salt at the beginning of the 2000s, and in 2004 adopted a decree that made the production and import of iodized salt mandatory, as well as its use in the food industry. A 2016 national survey showed high sustainability of the iodine prophylaxis program in Armenia – median urinary iodine concentration (UIC) in schoolchildren and pregnant women (PW) was in the optimal range (242 and 226 μg/l, respectively), and coverage of households with quality iodized salt was 95%. In addition to iodized salt used in households, more than 50% of iodine was consumed with processed foods, primarily bakery products. An essential advantage of the iodine prophylaxis program in Armenia is that it provides adequate iodine status not only for the general population, but also for PW. At the same time about 37% of PW used iodine supplements, which were not necessary. The experience of Armenia shows that the analysis of screening datasets for neonatal hypothyroidism screening makes it possible to efficiently and at minimal cost annually evaluate the iodine status of the population. And if the frequency of TSH levels > 5 mIU/L exceeds 3%, the health authorities should consider this as an alarm and conduct a more detailed assessment to find out the cause of the iodine status insufficiency and take appropriate measures