Abstract:
Introduction: Hypothyroidism is a relatively second most common endocrine
disorder and if it is not treated properly, it can lead to complications. Adequate
knowledge about disease and treatment is important to improve quality of life and
prevent the progress of disease affecting health.
Objective: To assess the Knowledge on hypothyroidism and associated factors on
it among hypothyroidism patients attending Endocrinology Clinic at Teaching
Hospital, Jaffna.
Methodology: This was a hospital based descriptive cross-sectional study among
278 Hypothyroidism patients in the Endocrinology Clinic at Teaching Hospital
Jaffna. Pre-tested and validated interviewer-administered questionnaire was used
to collect the data. The data were analysed by using IBM SPSS Statistics 25. The
variables were described by using mean, standard deviation, percentages, and
frequencies. The Chi-Squared test was used to find the association between
knowledge and the factors. The ethical clearance was obtained from Ethics Review
Committee of Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 35 years (SD=14.289). The majority
of the participants were females (89.6%). More than half of participants studied up
to O/L (51.8%) and two third of them (66.5%) were married. Three fourth of the
participants (75.2%) had adequate knowledge on hypothyroidism. More than three
quarter of participants (76.6%) knew that women had a high risk to develop
hypothyroidism. There were significant associations found between knowledge and
socio-demographic variables such as age (p=0.001), gender (p=0.002), educational
level (p=0.002), and marital status (p=0.041).
Conclusion: the findings revealed that most of the participants had adequate
knowledge on hypothyroidism. It is recommended to educate other participants also
for getting optimal care.
