Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Iodized Salt Among Adults Aged 18 to 65 in the United Arab Emirates.

Abstract

Iodine plays a big role in growth and development and is used in the synthesis of thyroid hormones that regulate body organ functions. Its most important source is iodized salt. Iodine deficiency impairs cognitive development and precipitates many thyroid diseases. The purpose of our study is to measure the knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards iodized salt in adults aged 18-65 years in the United Arab Emirates. This is a cross-sectional study that included 406 participants. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed in public places across the Emirates. The survey included the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants with questions related to knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards iodized salt. A knowledge score out of 13 was calculated. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, and Independent T-tests were used for analysis on the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, IBM Corp., Version 22.0, Armonk, NY), with a p-value less than 5% considered statistically significant. Out of the 406 respondents, 60% (n=246) were between the ages of 18-34 years and 71% (n=287) were at university level. The mean knowledge score was higher in participants with higher educational levels compared to participants with lower education levels (4.30 vs 2.63, respectively) and in older ages (35-65 years) compared to younger ages (18-34 years) (4.20 vs 3.59, respectively). Almost half of the participants buy iodized salt (48%, n=196), a minority buy non-iodized salt (14%, n=55), and the rest do not know what type of salt they buy. Most of the participants who use iodized salt store it in a closed container and do not expose it to sunlight. Knowledge about iodized salt is relatively low. Less than half of the participants use it, while most of the participants who use iodized salt follow the right storage recommendations. Our study suggests the implementation of public campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of iodized salt and the benefits of using it.