ABSTRACT
Background: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is in the midst of a diabetes mellitus (DM) epidemic whose originscan be traced to (a) the widespread adoption of the Western diet that is high in sugar, (b) an increase in sedentaryactivity, and (c) ignorance of the importance of DM. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to quantifyvarious aspects of (a) knowledge, (b) attitudes, and (c) practice relating to DM. Methods: The three researchquestions addressed in this study were: (1) Is there any significant relationship between attitudes to DM andpractices related to DM? (2) Is there any significant relationship between knowledge of DM and practices relatedto DM? (3) Is there any significant relationship between knowledge of DM and attitudes to DM? Separate surveysfor each question collected data from a representative sample of 1,067 adult both male and female Saudis fromRiyadh who have not been diagnosed with DM. Results: Data analysis of the data from the study indicated thatfor each of the three research questions, the null hypothesis could not be rejected, indicating that none of therelationships were statistically significant. Conclusion: The absence of significance for each of the findings hasimportant implications, including (a) the possibility that many Saudis incorrectly believe themselves to beunsusceptible to DM and (b) the high prevalence of DM-causing behaviors in the Saudi population. These twoimplications should be of particular concern to public health authorities and health educators in Saudi Arabia,who may need to work more diligently to educate non-DM-diagnosed Saudis on their vulnerability to DM
ABSTRACT
Background: CKD is prevalent in most parts of the world. CKD can be prevented and controlled by controlling its underlinecauses. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to assess the knowledge and perception toward CKD preventionand control in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: This was a prospective descriptive study which included 783 apparently healthySaudi volunteers, their ages ranged from 20 to 65 years with the mean age of 37 years. A purposeful questionnaire wasdesigned and used for obtaining data about the CKD. Results: Out of 783 contributors, 232(29.6%) were males and551(70.4%) were females, giving males' females' ratio of 1.00: 2.37. On asking the participants the question of “whethercontinuous doing renal function test for at risk individuals can reduce the burden of CKD,” about 85% agreed, and 15%disagreed. On asking the participants the question of “whether controlling HTN can reduce the burden of CKD,” about30.6% agreed and 69.3% disagreed. On asking the participants the question of “whether controlling DM can reduce theburden of CKD,” about 54.7% agreed and 45.3% disagreed. Conclusion: There was a relatively high positive attitude andknowledge toward CKD prevention and control among the educated Saudi population. Further efforts to promote healthknowledge, particularly among less educated section has been needed in order to increase the chances of CKD preventionand control.