Abstract

Background: Thyroid disorders can range from a small, harmless goiter (enlarged gland) that needs no treatment to life-threatening cancer. The most common thyroid problems involve abnormal production of thyroid hormones. The worldwide prevalence of thyroid disease in the Saudi population is 30%. Since thyroid hormones are metabolically active in most of the organs, any impairment in their function could affect the quality of life. Previous studies suggest limited awareness about this disease among Saudi general population. Hence this study was aimed at assessing the level of awareness regarding thyroid diseases among a random representative sample of general public living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the year 2019.
Methodology: Cross-sectional study involving random sampling technique was conducted during the year of 2019. The samples included 273 adult subjects (Age of 18 years to 50 years).
Results: The majority (56%) of respondents had a moderate knowledge about clinical characteristics of thyroid diseases, 45.4% of respondents had a moderate level of awareness regarding prevention of thyroid diseases while the majority (69.8%) had poor knowledge of risk factors of thyroid diseases. Most of the respondents had a moderate level of knowledge regarding the thyroid diseases (66.3%) and they belonged to the low economic status group. Majority of participants who had a moderate level of awareness regarding the thyroid diseases had an university level of education (43.2%).
Conclusion: Most of the participants had poor knowledge regarding risk factors and prevention of thyroid diseases, the majority of participants had moderate knowledge regarding the prevention and clinical characteristics of thyroid diseases. There was no statistically significant relationship between economic status, education level and the level of awareness regarding thyroid diseases among the general public of Saudi Arabia.

Key words: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, primary health care, the ministry of education,