Iodine status of young Burkinabe children receiving small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements and iodised salt: a cluster-randomised trial.

The objective of the present study was to assess the impact of providing small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) on the I status of young Burkinabe children. In total, thirty-four communities were assigned to intervention (IC) or non-intervention cohorts (NIC). IC children were randomly assigned to receive 20 g lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS)/d containing 90 µg I with 0 or 10 mg Zn from 9 to 18 months of age, and NIC children received no SQ-LNS. All the children were exposed to iodised salt through the national salt iodization programme. Spot urinary iodine (UI), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and total thyroxine (T4) in dried blood spots as well as plasma thyroglobulin (Tg) concentrations were assessed at 9 and 18 months of age among 123 IC and fifty-six NIC children. At baseline and at 18 months, UI, TSH and T4 did not differ between cohorts. Tg concentration was higher in the NIC v. IC at baseline, but this difference did not persist at 18 months of age. In both cohorts combined, the geometric mean of UI was 339·2 (95% CI 298·6, 385·2) µg/l, TSH 0·8 (95% CI 0·7, 0·8) mU/l, T4 118 (95 % CI 114, 122) nmol/l and Tg 26·0 (95% CI 24·3, 27·7) µg/l at 18 months of age. None of the children had elevated TSH at 18 months of age. Marginally more children in NIC (8·9%) had low T4 (15 ppm). A reduction of SQ-LNS I content could be considered in settings with similarly successful salt iodisation programmes.

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