HEALTH KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE REGARDING BLEACHING AGENTS IN WEST SAUDI ARABIA 105 STATISTICAL ANALYSES Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 22.0 was used for data entry and analysis. Descriptive statistics (number and percentage) and analytic statistics using chi-squared tests (χ2) to test for the association and/or the difference between the two categorical variables were applied. P value 0.05 was considered statistically signifi cant. RESULTS The present study included 531 women out of targeted 571 (with a response rate of 89.8%). Their ages ranged between 16 and 60 years (39.9 ± 9.0 years) (Table I). More than half of them (54.3%) aged between 26 and 40 years. Slightly more than half of them (50.3%) were married whereas 39.6% were single. Higher educated women (university and above) represent 59.4% of the participants whereas illiterates represent only 4.9% of them. Slightly more than one-third of them (34.8%) were employed and 31.7% were house wives. Monthly average household income ranged between 2,000 and 5,000 Saudi Riyals (SR) (500 USD and 1,250 USD) among 28.8% of the participants whereas it ex- ceeded 20,000 SR (5,000 USD) among 6% of them. PREVALENCE OF USING TPAs As demonstrated in Figure 1, 43.3% of the participants (230 out of 531) were current users of TPAs. Out of noncurrent users, 52.8% (159 out of 301) had previously used TPAs as shown in Figure 2. Overall, 389 women out of 531 (73.3%) regularly used TPAs. Table I Sociodemographic Characteristics of the Participants (n = 531) Variables Categories Frequency Percentage Age (years) 16–25 176 33.1 26–40 288 54.3 40 67 12.6 Marital status Single 210 39.6 Married 267 50.3 Divorced/separated 39 7.3 Widowed 15 2.8 Educational level (n = 515) Illiterate 25 4.9 High school or lower 184 35.7 University or higher 306 59.4 Occupation House wife 168 31.7 Student 65 12.2 Employed 185 34.8 Unemployed 113 21.3 Monthly average household income in SR and USD 2,000 SR ( 500 USD) 88 16.6 2,000–5,000 SR (500–1,250 USD) 153 28.8 5,001-10,000 SR (1,250–2,500 USD) 151 28.4 10,001–20,000 SR (2,500–5,000 USD) 107 20.2 20,000 SR ( 5,000 USD) 32 6.0

JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE 106 Figure 1. P revalence of using skin TPAs among women attending government hospitals and clinics at Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah city, west Saudi Arabia (n = 531). Figure 2. Hi story of previous use of TPAs among women who are not currently using these products (n = 301). DETAILS OF PRACTICE Women in Al-Madinah are keen to use face cover outdoors. Table I also shows that the ages of the women when they fi rst started using TPAs varied from 16 to 55 years (mean 24.4 ± 7.9 years). Details of using topical TPAs among regular users are described in Table I. Majority of women using bleaching agents (54.3%) are middle-aged (26–40 years), and the use decreases with advancing age. Married women (50.3%) are using TPAs more than nonmarried women possibly to express beauty to husband according to Islamic values. There is a direct relation between the use of TPAs and educational level, where highly educated women (university level and higher) (59.4%) use TPAs more than oth- ers. House wives (31.7%) and employed women (34.8%) are a majority. That gives the impression that married women are keen to use TPAs to express their beauty to husbands. This is not reduced by work duties. Women from all economic levels are keen to use