Amount of urinary iodine excretion in residents of Taipei City--a hospital-based study.

The amount of urinary iodine excretion was measured by neutron activation analysis in 87 residents of Taipei City. The mean +/- SE of urinary iodine excretion expressed as ug iodine/g creatinine was 337.2 +/- 33.3 (335.3 +/- 59.5 for males and 338.4 +/- 40.6 for females). For each 10-year age group, from 20-29 to greater than or equal to 70, they were 396.6 +/- 106.1, 396.5 +/- 127.6, 306.5 +/- 116.7, 326.4 +/- 40.4, 338.1 +/- 64.3 and 222.9 +/- 100.6, respectively. Although there were no significant differences in sex and age, the amount of urinary iodine excretion was distributed in a very wide range from 38.6 to 1,526 ug iodine/g creatinine. Only 3% of the subjects excreted less than 50 ug iodine/g creatinine but 42.7% of our subjects excreted more than 300 ug iodine/g creatine. Iodine deficiency is not a real problem in Taipei City. However, about half of the Taipei City residents may take more than the suggested optimum amount of iodine.