Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Iodine Nutrition among Pregnant Women in the Bongo District, Ghana.

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JEREMIAH ISSAKA, CHARLES APPREY, HERMAN ERICK LUTTERODT, REGINALD ADJETEY ANNAN This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9115150/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: Iodine is a trace mineral that plays a key role in producing thyroid hormones, which are key modulators of growth, neurological development, and metabolism. Notwithstanding the extensive global initiatives aimed at preventing and controlling iodine deficiency, it remains a widespread public health concern, particularly among pregnant women in many low-resource settings. Understanding the iodine-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of pregnant women is crucial to the formation of targeted interventions Methods: a cross-sectional design was used to evaluate the iodine-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of pregnant women attending prenatal health care services at different health facilities in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Socio-demographic data, KAP data, and data on the frequency of consumption of dietary iodine were collected using a questionnaire. Results: iodine-related knowledge was generally poor (96%), with only 2.57% and 1.43% showing moderate and good knowledge, respectively. Attitude towards iodine was generally fair, with 67.71% of respondents showing neutral attitudes, while 28.29% showed a bad attitude, with only 4% exhibiting a good attitude towards iodine nutrition. No single respondent demonstrated good iodine dietary practice, with 99.43% having bad iodine dietary practices. Iodized salt consumption was also low, with 77.14% reported never having used it for food preparation, while 17.43% reported daily usage. Bouillon cube consumption was strikingly high, with 78.00% reporting daily usage in food preparation Conclusion: generally , there was poor iodine knowledge, a neutral/fair attitude, and poor iodine-related practices among the pregnant women. There was also poor consumption of iodine-rich foods among respondents. Nutrition & Dietetics knowledge attitudes practices iodine nutrition iodine deficiency iodine status pregnant women dietary behaviour Ghana Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files KAPsQUESTIONNAIRE.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Ghana\u003c/strong\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":" knowledge, attitudes, practices, iodine nutrition, iodine deficiency, iodine status, pregnant women, dietary behaviour, Ghana","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9115150/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9115150/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground: \u003c/strong\u003eIodine is a trace mineral that plays a key role in producing thyroid hormones, which are key modulators of growth, neurological development, and metabolism. Notwithstanding the extensive global initiatives aimed at preventing and controlling iodine deficiency, it remains a widespread public health concern, particularly among pregnant women in many low-resource settings. Understanding the iodine-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of pregnant women is crucial to the formation of targeted interventions\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods:\u003c/strong\u003e a cross-sectional design was used to evaluate the iodine-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of pregnant women attending prenatal health care services at different health facilities in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region of Ghana. Socio-demographic data, KAP data, and data on the frequency of consumption of dietary iodine were collected using a questionnaire.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults: \u003c/strong\u003eiodine-related knowledge was generally poor (96%), with only 2.57% and 1.43% showing moderate and good knowledge, respectively. Attitude towards iodine was generally fair, with 67.71% of respondents showing neutral attitudes, while 28.29% showed a bad attitude, with only 4% exhibiting a good attitude towards iodine nutrition. No single respondent demonstrated good iodine dietary practice, with 99.43% having bad iodine dietary practices. Iodized salt consumption was also low, with 77.14% reported never having used it for food preparation, while 17.43% reported daily usage. Bouillon cube consumption was strikingly high, with 78.00% reporting daily usage in food preparation\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusion: \u003c/strong\u003egenerally\u003cstrong\u003e, \u003c/strong\u003ethere was poor iodine knowledge, a neutral/fair attitude, and poor iodine-related practices among the pregnant women. There was also poor consumption of iodine-rich foods among respondents.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Iodine Nutrition among Pregnant Women in the Bongo District, Ghana.","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-16 05:35:34","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9115150/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"067cd763-cdb4-4bb1-aee4-2ef960fd0889","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 16th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":64462418,"name":"Nutrition \u0026 Dietetics"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-16T05:35:34+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-16 05:35:34","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9115150","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9115150","identity":"rs-9115150","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}