Awareness of General Population of Saudi Arabia toward Diabetic Complications

Objectives: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a medical condition that induces hyperglycemia due to the lack of insulin production or intervention. With high prevalence of DM in Saudi Arabia, it is essential for the population to have adequate information and understanding of DM. We aimed to study the level of awareness among the general population towards diabetic complications and explore the relationship between level of awareness and different socio-demographic factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the general population of Saudi Arabia in different regions between May – July 2021. Total enumeration method was used for including all the adult males and females who agreed to answer the questionnaire in this study. Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Results: A total of 508 participants completed the study of whom 67.5% were males. We found that 91.1% of the participants had good awareness about diabetic complications. The majority of the participants (93.9%) were diagnosed with DM or knew someone diagnosed with it. Approximately 78.4% of the participants thought that DM is a lifestyle disease and a higher percentage of them (84.1%) agreed that DM is a disease which needs to be monitored every 3-6 months. The most common identified complication was retinopathy (41.9%). We found that level of awareness of diabetic complications was significantly related to age (P=0.011), and also it was significantly related to the occupation (P=0.001). Conclusion: This study revealed that the general level of awareness about diabetic complications among the general population of Saudi Arabia was good. Key words: Diabetes mellitus, Complications, Saudi Arabia, Awareness