Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a lifelong metabolic disease, considered often as an epidemic problem that leads to a reduction in quality and expectancy of life. There is an increasing prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus throughout the world as a result of changing dietary patterns and decreased physical activity. Providing proper education and guidance towards diabetes care among patients could result in considerable development in their glycemic control and disease treatment. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of dietary pattern among diabetes mellitus patients visiting primary health care center (PHC) in Al Majmaah City, Saudi Arabia
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 155 patients with type 2 diabetes that included 73 male and 82 females.
Results: Mean knowledge score was 43.22±14.85. The mean attitudes score was 2.33±0.40, and regarding the practice, the majority of the patients did not follow special diet 87(56.1%), and only 24(15.5%) patients follow Diabetic diet. The majority 37(23.9%) of patients took only 1-2 serving of starch per a day, 47(30.3%) patients took less than one serving of fruits per a day, and 64(41.3%) patients only drank 4 cups of water per a day.
Conclusion: In general, poor knowledge, attitudes, and practices were observed towards healthy dietary habits among type 2 diabetes mellitus in patients attending PHC in Al Majmaah city. The present study found only 15.5% among the study subjects following a strict diabetic diet which reflects the poor level of diabetic control followed in this part of the country.

Key words: Saudi Arabia, Al Majmaah, diabetes mellitus, dietary pattern, knowledge, attitude, and practice.