Nutritional knowledge and health literacy among pregnant women in the Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

Nutritional knowledge and health literacy among pregnant women in the Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study. Download PDF Abstract Maternal nutrition is central to healthy pregnancy, yet region-specific evidence on pregnancy-related nutritional knowledge and its relationship with health literacy remains limited in Saudi Arabia. This study assessed nutritional knowledge among pregnant women in the Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia, identified associated sociodemographic and clinical factors, and examined its relationship with health literacy.

This cross-sectional study analyzed 536 pregnant women aged ≥ 18 years residing in the Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia after excluding four submitted questionnaires from women who declined electronic consent. Participants completed an anonymous, self-administered online Arabic-language questionnaire adapted from a previously published instrument. Nutritional knowledge was assessed using 40 dichotomously scored items and categorized as poor (< 50%), moderate (50–75%), or good (> 75%).

Four health-literacy domains available in the final electronic survey were analyzed. Associations were examined using chi-square tests followed by multinomial logistic regression with good knowledge as the reference category. Among 536 consenting participants, 63.1% had poor nutritional knowledge, 30.8% had moderate knowledge, and 6.2% had good knowledge.

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