Knowledge of Men and Women about infertility Risk Factors

Background and objectives: With the modern lifestyle of men and women and technological developments, many infertility risk factors have increased nowadays. Therefore, it is important to search for, prevent and manage these risk factors. This study aimed to explore the knowledge of men and women patients regarding risk factors of infertility in Duhok city. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 501 patients who attended one tertiary governmental hospital in vitro fertilization department and three primary health centers in Duhok city from 1st November 2019 to 15th February 2020. The data collection which included the interviewing questionnaire about the knowledge of men and women about infertility risk factors. These data were categorized into two sections. The first section ion about sociodemographic data. The second section is about infertility risk factors. The mean value of the total correct answers of the participants was considered the level of knowledge for male and female participants. Results: The age of the participants ranged between 18-70 years. The participants were males (53.7%) and females (46.3%). The overall knowledge about the risk factors of infertility was 50.51%. The participants reported that stressful life (77.8%), continuous use of anabolic steroids (67.3%), working in petrochemical industries (69.9%), and continuously wearing tight clothes can cause infertility (63.3%), and these results have statistically significant values. While they reported that continuous exposure to high light intensity (29.7%), prolonged standing (33.1%), continuous contact with chlorine in the swimming pool (30.9%), cosmetic products (24.2%), excessive chlorine in drinking water cause infertility (29.7%) and these results have no statistically significant values. Conclusions: This study showed that patients have an an acceptable level of knowledge about infertility risk factors.