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The Status and Knowledge of Iodine among Pregnant Women in Shanghai

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Abstract

Iodine plays an important role in thyroid function. However, in daily practices, people lack the related details including the knowledge concerned iodine usage, attitudes towards it, and practice among pregnant women. The aim of the present study is to assess the iodine status of pregnant women in Shanghai, and their knowledge regarding iodine, with the goal of investigating the relationship between iodine and thyroid function during pregnancy. This is a cross-sectional study. We recruited 3 groups of participants including 145 pregnant women (12–16 weeks gestation), 101 pregnant women (24–28 weeks gestation), and 108 pregnant women (34–38 weeks gestation). Iodine status and dietary intake were calculated from 24-h urinary iodine concentration (UIC). Knowledge regarding iodine was collected through a questionnaire. We additionally examined TSH, FT3, FT4, and TPOAb of the participants. The median of UIC of the 354 pregnant women was 119.2 μg/L, and 68.9% had urinary iodine levels below 150 μg/L. The proportion of daily iodized salt consumption in pregnant women was only 78.0%. The median UIC of the pregnant women who had consumed iodized salt was significantly higher than that of the pregnant women without iodized salt intake (Z = − 5.087, P < 0.001). Pregnant women in weeks 34–38 with a high level of knowledge had significantly lower TSH levels than those with low knowledge level (P = 0.046). Among the 349 pregnant women, few were aware of the harm to the fetus (8.3%). Significant differences were found in the scores for the knowledge level of women with different educational levels (Z = − 5.413, P < 0.001). Pregnant women in Shanghai have mild iodine deficiency. Approaches to improve iodine status among pregnant women in Shanghai include raising their awareness of iodine intake and changing their dietary habits. Otherwise, the risk of iodine deficiency in pregnant women may continue to increase.

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Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the International Science Editing (http://www.internationalscienceediting.com) for editing this manuscript.

Funding

This research was supported by the Scientific Research Fund of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning and Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (no. 201640250, 2019ZB0104).

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Author notes

  1. Wenxia Tian and Wenqing Yan contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China

    Wenxia Tian, Wenqing Yan & Haixia Wang

  2. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Embryo Original Diseases, Shanghai, China

    Wenxia Tian & Wenguang Sun

  3. Shanghai Municipal Key Clinical Specialty, Shanghai, China

    Wenxia Tian & Wenguang Sun

  4. The International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Wenxia Tian & Wenguang Sun

  5. Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital East Campus, Shanghai, China

    Yang Liu & Fangfang Zhou

Authors
  1. Wenxia Tian
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  2. Wenqing Yan
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  3. Yang Liu
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  4. Fangfang Zhou
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  5. Haixia Wang
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  6. Wenguang Sun
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Contributions

Wenguang Sun contributed to the study design and critical revision of the article. Wenxia Tian contributed to the data collection and analysis, drafting of the article, and writing—review and editing. Yang Liu performed the clinical diagnosis and recruitment. Wenxia Tian and Wenqing Yan performed the questionnaire and data collection. Fangfang Zhou performed the clinical diagnosis. Haixia Wang performed the recruitment and data entry. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wenguang Sun.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital East Campus (no.2016-003). The pregnant women provided written consent and received written information about the study.

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Tian, W., Yan, W., Liu, Y. et al. The Status and Knowledge of Iodine among Pregnant Women in Shanghai. Biol Trace Elem Res 199, 4489–4497 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02587-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02587-4

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