A Hospital-Based Study of Iodine Nutrition Status of Breastfeeding Mothers in Bangladesh

Table 1

Characteristics of the studied subjects.

Variables	Frequency (%)
No. of subjects	266
Age (mean ± SD, yr)	26.6 ± 4.7
Age range (yr)	18–38
Exclusively breast feeding	132 (49.6)
Occupation
Housewife	192 (72.2)
Service	54 (20.3)
Student	13 (4.9)
Others	7 (2.6)
Area of residence
Inside Dhaka	183 (68.8)
Outside	83 (31.2)
Socioeconomic condition
Poor	40 (15.0)
Average	122 (45.9)
Good	104 (39.1)
Educational status
Primary	81 (30.5)
SSC	43 (16.2)
HSC	55 (20.7)
Graduate	56 (21.1)
Masters	31 (11.7)
Parity
Unipara	130 (48.9)
Multipara	136 (51.1)
Type of salt intake
Open	4 (1.5)
Packet	262 (98.5)
Aware about iodine	166 (62.4)
Positive family history of thyroid disease	17 (6.4)
Presence of goiter
Grade 1	33 (12.4)
Grade 2	6 (2.3)

(Within parentheses are percentages over column total).