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IODINE
Comparability with other surveys The NATSIHMS is the first ABS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survey to collect biomedical information. Given it was also the first national level survey (ABS or otherwise) to collect such data for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, no comparisons with previous surveys for this population are possible. However, biomedical data was also collected for all Australians in the 2011-12 National Health Measures Survey (NHMS) and information about comparisons between the NHMS results and those of non-ABS surveys is available from the Comparisons with other Australian surveys section of the Biomedical Results for Chronic Diseases, 2011-12 publication. In the NATSIHMS, urinary iodine levels were measured using the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method. Many other studies such as the 2003–04 Australian National Iodine Nutrition Study (NINS)4 used the Sandell-Kolthoff spectrophotometric (S-K) method to measure iodine levels. The World Health Organization and the International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) determined a set of cut-offs using the S-K method to define if a population is iodine deficient.3 However, no agreed cut-offs have been developed yet for the new ICP-MS method. Therefore, the cut-offs for the S-K method were applied to the ICP-MS results in the NATSIHMS to determine iodine deficiency. Research has shown there to be good agreement between the two methods overall, but the ICP-MS method may be more sensitive in detecting iodine deficiency than the S-K method.5 Therefore any comparison of iodine deficiency between the NATSIHMS and studies that used the S-K method should be applied with caution. ENDNOTES 1 Gibson RS 2005, Principles of Nutritional Assessment, 2nd ed, New York: Oxford University Press. 2 Food Standards Australia New Zeland, 2012, Iodine fortification, <http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/nutrition/iodinefort/Pages/default.aspx>, Last accessed 08/09/2014. 3 WHO/UNICEF/ICCIDD 2007, Assessment of iodine deficiency disorders and monitoring their elimination: a guide for programme managers, 3rd ed. Geneva (Switzerland): World Health Organization, <http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2007/9789241595827_eng.pdf>, Last accesssed 08/09/2014. 4 Li M, Eastman CJ, Waite KV, Ma G, Zacharin MR, Topliss DJ, Harding PE, Walsh JP, Ward LC, Mortimer RH, Mackenzie EJ, Byth K and Z Doyle 2006, Are Australian children iodine deficient? Results of the Australian National Iodine Nutrition Study, Medical Journal of Australia; 184(4): 165-169, <https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2006/184/4/are-australian-children-iodine-deficient-results-australian-national-iodine>, Last accessed 08/09/2014. 5 Li M, Ma G, Guttikonda K, Boyages SC, Waite K and CJ Eastman 2001, The re-emergence of iodine deficiency in Australia. Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr, 10:200-203.
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