Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder marked by high blood sugar levels. It is a noncommunicable disease that is currently a critical public health concern.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the gap between knowledge and practice regarding DM among patients with type 2 DM in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. An interviewer-administrated questionnaire was used to collect the required data.
Results: A total of 210 patients were included in this study and over half (53.3%) were males. More than half of them (56.2%) had DM for 5 years or less, and 12.4% had DM for more than 20 years. Most of the participants (62.4%) were found to have family history of DM. Moreover, the monthly income and family history significantly correlated with the knowledge score, p = 0.038 and p = 0.006, respectively. The practice level was significantly associated with the family history (p = 0.033).
Conclusion: We found that diabetic patients with a family history of diabetes had high knowledge levels and good practices. Furthermore, participants with a low monthly income had poor knowledge, implying that socioeconomic status is a significant predictor of diabetes knowledge.
Key words: Diabetes mellitus type 2, knowledge, practice, Saudi Arabia
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