Knowledge of thyroid disorder and preventive practice among pregnant women attending selected maternal and child health clinic of Bhaktapur, Nepal

Abstract

Background: Thyroid is the second most common endocrine illness after diabetes. Both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism can cause serious complications such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, infertility, arrhythmia, and more. This study aimed to determine the level of awareness among a group of people in the central region of Nepal. Objectives: The overall objective of this study was to assess the knowledge of thyroid disorder and its preventive practices among pregnant women attending MCH clinic. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among 207 pregnant women of age 18-29 years attending maternal and child health clinic of Siddhi Memorial Hospital, Bhaktapur through a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Quantitative research method was applied through face-to-face interview and the collected data were entered and analysed using SPSS v.25. Results: Around 86% of 207 respondents had heard about thyroid disorder. Thyroid illness was defined by more than a third of respondents (38.76%) as the presence of Goiter, followed by disease caused by insufficient thyroid hormone (18.54%) and disease caused by excess thyroid hormone (12.92 %). 68.54% of those surveyed were uninformed about various thyroid issues, while 31.46% did. Only 62.92% of respondents were aware of the thyroid test, and the majority (81.15%) were not familiar with preventive practices. Overall, 65.2% of respondents had inadequate knowledge about thyroid disorders, whereas 34.80% had acceptable level of knowledge. Ethnicity, occupation, and education level were statistically significantly associated with knowledge on Thyroid disorder (p-value < 0.05). Adequate knowledge was found to be associated with good in preventive practice (p-value <0.06). Conclusion: The respondents had a low level of awareness about thyroid problem and its preventive measures. This study highlights the necessity of comprehensive health education and accessible, affordable health services covering wide range of issues regarding thyroid.