Are Australian children iodine deficient? Results of the Australian National Iodine Nutrition Study

Re: “Are Australian children iodine deficient? Results of the Australian National Iodine Nutrition Study”, by Mu Li, Creswell J Eastman, Kay V Waite, Gary Ma, Margaret R Zacharin, Duncan J Topliss, Philip E Harding, John P Walsh, Lynley C Ward, Robin H Mortimer, Emily J Mackenzie, Karen Byth and Zelda Doyle, in the 20 February 2006 issue of the Journal (Med J Aust 2006; 184: 165-169).

The article as originally published did not include unbiased estimates across all mainland states for the statistics presented in Box 1 and Box 4. This omission is corrected in the tables presented here. All data in these tables are the same as in the original article, but an extra row showing estimates for mainland states has been added. The “Total” row refers to the study sample only.

The unbiased estimate of the national median urinary iodine excretion (UIE) in the results section of the abstract should read 96 μg/L, not 104 μg/L, showing that children in mainland Australia are mildly iodine deficient according to World Health Organization criteria (mild iodine deficiency, UIE 50–99 μg/L).