Context: Thyroid dysfunction is a common endocrine disorder. Lifestyle changes such as the use of complementary therapies namely yoga, regular physical activity, and proper diet may reduce the risk of endocrinal dysfunction and may help individuals to maintain a healthy weight.
Objective: The study intended to evaluate thyroid patients' knowledge gaps with respect to, cultural beliefs about, and attitudes towards the practice of yoga as a therapeutic tool in India.
Design: The research team conducted a cross-sectional survey electronically using a snowball sampling technique.
Setting: The study took place at Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (S-VYASA) Yoga University in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Participants: Participants were patients with thyroid dysfunction in India.
Outcome measures: The research team: (1) evaluated the overall awareness of, opinions about, and practice of yoga among participants, (2) correlated the findings with participants' sociodemographic characteristics, specific thyroid disease and comorbidities using the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) model and Tableau analysis.
Results: Among respondents, 192 patients were eligible to participate in the survey, out of which 31.8% were yoga practitioners and 68.2% weren't. All participants confirmed that they had heard the term yoga. The second group's awareness of yoga's use as a therapy was limited. Many nonpractitioners stated that they lacked knowledge of and feared injury from the practice of yoga, yet they showed interest in receiving yogic counseling. Of the 192 participants, 85.94% had received a clinical diagnosis of hypothyroidism, out of which 64% were female and 22% were male. The remaining 14% of participants had received other diagnosis along the spectrum of thyroid dysfunction. The prominent comorbidity was obesity at 28.13% among both genders, and in addition, 20.83% of females had polycystic ovarian syndrome.
Conclusions: This study found an inadequate level of knowledge of yoga as a therapy among thyroid patients. Because yoga is progressive in improving endocrinal functions and is one of the complementary therapies for managing thyroid dysfunction, the research team recommends its integration into conventional medicine as an adjunct therapy. This study provides the scope for future studies about yoga and thyroid dysfunction among a wide range of age groups across the globe.