A community-based case–control study to investigate the role of iron deficiency in the persistence of goiter

Objectives: To find out the magnitude of iron deficiency anemia in the age group of 6–12 years and investigate the role of iron deficiency as a possible contributor to endemic goiter in school children in Ambala. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted as a subset of a cross-sectional study among 2700 children from 6 to 12 years of age to find out the prevalence of goiter. All the subjects who were found to be suffering from goiter in the cross-sectional study were enrolled in the case–control study as cases and were compared with age- and sex-matched controls (children without goiter) from the same cohort. The study was conducted from February 2011 to January 2012. Results: Out of total, goiter was observed in 12.6% of the subjects. Urinary iodine excretion was found to be <100 μg/L in 57 (10.5%) children. Mean hemoglobin (Hb) level of the study population was 11.9 g/dL. It was noted that 71% of the goitrous children had anemia (Hb <12 g/dL) as compared to 63.7% of the control group. Serum ferritin (SF) was