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ALBANIAN MEDICAL JOURNAL SUPPLEMENTIodine status among school-children in AlbaniaJolanda Hyska 1,2 , Iris Mone 31Faculty of Public Health, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania;2Institute of Public Health, Tirana, Albania;3Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania.Aim: Iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs) arecurrently one of the major worldwide public healthproblems. IDDs remain a public health concern inAlbania too. This survey was undertaken todetermine median urinary iodine concentrationamong school children, and assess the level of iodinein salt samples at the household level, after theintroduction of the use of iodized salt at nationallevel in Albania.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conductedincluding a representative sample of school-children(N=1060) aged 6-13 years. Urine and salt sampleswere examined for iodine concentration levels.Results: Overall, median urinary iodineconcentration was 100.4 mg/l, indicating non iodinedeficiency;also, 49.6% of the urine samples examinedshowed iodine insufficiency (2.4% severe IDD, 13.4%moderate IDD and 33.7% mild IDD, respectively).Iodine content was found to be adequate in 62.1%of the salt samples. The median iodine concentrationof salt samples was 18.5 mg/ l.Conclusion: Compared to the results of previoussurveys, the IDDs rates have declined in the last fewyears in Albania. However, IDDs continue to be animportant public health problem in Albania. Thesefindings call for identification of factors to strengthenthe National IDD Control Program: the need to banproduction, trading and use of the non-iodized saltin Albania, and the need for repeated surveys tomonitor the progress in eliminating IDDs in Albania.Keywords: iodine, iodine deficiency disorders, school-children.86 ALBANIAN MEDICAL JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT