Iodized salt, knowledge versus practice among females in Fayum governorate

Background: Iodine is observed as one of the most important trace elements in the human body, which is considered very essential during the synthesis of thyroid hormones. Iodine deficiency in humans can cause several diseases or problems, which include spontaneous abortion, increased infant mortality, cretinism, goiter, and mental defects. Objective: To evaluate the knowledge and practices of women toward the iodized salt. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional community-based study was conducted using a pre-tested structured interview questionnaire. Multi-stage cluster random sampling was used to select the study population which was 1789 women. Results: 55.4% of women reported a good knowledge score. Residence, history of thyroid disease, increasing level of education, and hearing about iodized salt were the significant predictors associated with good knowledge with odds ratios of 1.116, 2.405, 4.344 and 11.872 respectively. Conclusion: Although most of our studied participants (87.1%) were using iodized salt, however knowledge about iodine and iodized salt was not satisfactory and many of the participants had improper practices related to the iodized salt usage