ABSTRACT
Background and objective Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are natural or synthetic molecules that can alter and affect the operations of the hormonal system of an organism. These compounds include plastic consumer products and food containers such as phytoestrogen, which is also naturally present in food. EDCs can be found in the cord blood and maternal blood of pregnant women, as well as colostrum. Hence, they may affect not only the mother but also the offspring. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the awareness among females of reproductive age regarding the nature, source, as well as physiological and psychological burden associated with sex hormones disruptors. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among females between the age of 15-45 years in the Al-Jouf region, Saudi Arabia. A self-administrated questionnaire was used as the data collection tool; it consisted of multiple-choice questions to obtain information on the awareness among the females. In this study, females were classified into those with good knowledge and those with poor knowledge based on their level of knowledge by using a scoring system with a total score of 12. IBM SPSS Statistics version 24 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) was used to analyze the collected data. Results The study included 491 females; 6.6% of them had been using soya-containing products for a long time, and 32.5% reported using oatmeal for a long time. The majority (86.2%) did not use any other hormonal therapy. There were significant differences in the knowledge about sex hormone disruptors among the participants, and women with poorer knowledge about sex hormone disruptors were significantly less likely to report the long-time usage of soya-containing food when compared to women with greater knowledge (2.2% vs. 4.2%, p<0.001). The results showed that women with poorer knowledge were also significantly less likely to report the usage of hormonal therapies when compared to women with greater knowledge (6.7% vs. 7.2%, p<0.001), indicating that the usage of these chemicals is higher in women with greater knowledge although they are aware of their effects. Conclusion The study showed that females had good knowledge about the nature and usage of EDCs but poor knowledge about their impact. The knowledge of females was associated with their behavior regarding the usage of such products.
