ABSTRACT
Background: Diabetes mellitus [DM] is rapidly becoming one of the main health issues among humans in the 21[st] century. The increase in the incidence of type 1 diabetes has been observed as a global public health problem in children and adolescents. This work was conducted aimed to estimate the prevalence of type I diabetes and to describe some related characteristics of cases in a sample of adolescent primary and secondary school girls of Riyadh city, KSA
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the academic year 2016-2017. Data were collected via a predesigned and pretested questionnaire to gather the relevant data. The total number of participants was 154 adolescent girls
Results: The overall prevalence of type I diabetes among the studied adolescent girls was 5.2% with Mean[ +/- SD] age was 14.08 [ +/- 3.4]. All diabetic girls were Saudi. Only 25% of the cases were using a hormonal contraception. No smoking history or other chronic diseases was detected among them
Conclusion: The present study establishes the prevalence of type 1 DM among Saudi adolescent girls to be 5.2%. We suggest repeating this study periodically, with concentration on the various possible etiological and risk factors. Also we recommend conducting similar studies in other areas of Saudi Arabia to get more information about Diabetes. Awareness campaigns and continuous medical education is of utmost importance to detect the disease to guard against development of complications
ABSTRACT
Background: Diabetic ketoacidosis [DKA] is a complication of Diabetes mellitus [DM] that lingers to have high rates of morbidity and mortality regardless of advances in the management of DM. DKA mainly results from insulin deficiency from new-onset diabetes, insulin noncompliance and increased insulin need because of infection. Most persons with DKA have type 1 diabetes however, a subgroup of type 2 diabetes patients might as well have ketosis-prone diabetes
Aim of the work: To assess the level of awareness of the risk factors of DKA as well as the adherence of DM patients with drugs
Methods: This is a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study enrolling a total of 100 randomly selected diabetic Saudi adults ensuring diversity in age range and educational stages. Descriptive analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences [SPSS] 23. Awareness levels for DKA were calculated as absolute frequencies and were reported as overall percentages
Results: A total of 100 randomly selected diabetic Saudi adults [81 females and 19 males], 56% were diagnosed with DM-1 while 44% had DM-2 and only 11% were active sport practitioners. Moreover, only 62% reported a robust adherence to DM medications. The majority of the respondent scored low knowledge on DKA [54%]. Regarding awareness of predisposing risk factors: 9% and 29% of the participants have related DKA to infection and febrile illness respectively. While, 50% of them suggested that there was an association between physical stress and DKA
Conclusion: Our results revealed a compelling need to bridge the disparity in awareness of DKA among Saudi adults with both types. The current knowledge gap doesn't only incur a significant cost burden on the patients and their sponsors because of the high cost treatment and rehabilitation but also and more severely the complications that can be life-threatening if not spotted and treated quickly