Knowledge and practices regarding iodine deficiency disorders and iodized salt among pregnant women in Al-Najaf governorate

Abstract

Iodine is one of the most important trace elements in the human body, which is considered essential for synthesising thyroid hormones. Iodine deficiency can cause several diseases, including spontaneous abortion, increased infant mortality, cretinism, goitre, and mental defects. This study aims to determine the level of knowledge and practice regarding Iodine deficiency disorders and Iodised salt among a sample of pregnant women in Al-Najaf governorate in Iraq. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in seventeen primary health care centres, and four hospitals were selected randomly by multistage sampling technique. The study involved (731) pregnant women from both urban and rural areas selected by systematic sampling technique. The result showed that the overall knowledge of pregnant women regarding IDDs and iodised salt was poor. Where a good score was 13.0% only, while a poor score was 23.4%, and the majority was fair/acceptable with 63.6%. And the practice was poor, where the good practice was 16.8%, the poor score was 35.7%, and the majority was fair/acceptable with 47.5% There was a significant association between age and residence of pregnant women with practice scores. Also, there was a significant association between educational qualifications for mothers and fathers with practice scores.