KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS LEVEL ASSESSMENT OF THYROID DISORDERSAND THEIR RISK FACTOR AMONG SAUDI POPULATION IN KSA
Abstract
Background: The incidence of thyroid diseases has tripled in the last three decades, and the prevalence
is rising rapidly irrespective of gender and genetics. Thyroid disorders are caused either by excessive
or inadequate thyroid hormone production or by the enlargement of the thyroid gland. Objectives: To
assess the knowledge and awareness level of thyroid disorder and their risk factor among the Saudi
population in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was
collected randomly from those who agree to participate. the study consisted of Saudi population adult
males and females who are older than 18 from all social classes and willing to provide informed consent
was included, The Saudi adults younger than 18 was excluded. Collected Data was entered on computer
using the Microsoft Excel program (2016) for windows. Data was then transferred to the Statistical-
Package of Social-Science Software (SPSS) program, version 25. To be statistically analysed. Results:
As regard knowledge and awareness score about thyroid gland and its diseases, there were 35.6% out
of 390 participants, demonstrated a high level of knowledge on this subject matter. However, the data
also revealed that a substantial portion of the population, nearly one-third, have a low level of
knowledge. The moderately knowledgeable group, representing 31.5% of the sample. Regarding the
relation between level of knowledge about thyroid gland diseases and sociodemographic characteristics,
there was a statistically significant relation to gender (p value=0.0001) and age (p value=0.0001). It also
shows statistically insignificant relation to nationality and residence. Conclusion: The findings revealed
that a significant portion of participants lacked adequate knowledge about thyroid gland diseases, with
only 35.6% demonstrating a high level of understanding. This highlights the importance of increasing
public awareness to promote early diagnosis and proper management of thyroid disorders.
