ABSTRACT
Background Metabolic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus (DM), are increasingly becoming a global problem. Apart from clinical judgment, it is necessary to have reliable, inexpensive, and non-invasive tools to assess the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), as the disease can be diagnosed years after its onset, with irreversible complications. Methodology This is an observational cross-sectional study conducted at the College of Medicine, King Saud University, located in the capital city of Saudi Arabia. Data was collected through a questionnaire administered to medical students who voluntarily agreed to participate. The risk of T2DM was assessed using the American Diabetes Association diabetes risk test. The collected data was coded, entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (SPSS; IBM Inc., Armonk, New York), and subsequently analyzed. Results A total of 417 participants were included in our study, with a mean age of 20 ± 2.03 years and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 24.2 ± 5.3. The mean DM risk score was 1.83 ± 1.32 out of a total of 11. Of all the participants, 98.8% had a low-risk score for T2DM, while only 1.2% were identified as having a higher risk of developing T2DM. Approximately 77% of the participants had checked their weight and calculated their BMI in the last year. Among the participants, 98.1% identified obesity as a risk factor for T2DM, 57.8% reported smoking as a risk factor, 96.4% recognized a family history of DM as a risk factor, 80.8% identified a history of gestational DM as a risk factor, and 53.7% reported hypertension as a risk factor for T2DM. Conclusions Most of the study participants demonstrated a good knowledge level and awareness regarding T2DM, with only 1.2% found to be at an increased risk of developing the disease. Our analysis did not identify any significant association between having a high or low-risk score for T2DM and having a high or low awareness level of the disease.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The hepatitis B virus (HBV) poses a health risk to healthcare workers who are in close proximity to infected individuals. Medical students are a particularly high-risk group due to the lack of an obligatory vaccination program and a post-vaccination screening program to determine immunity status, which results in a lack of awareness of and compliance with the HBV vaccine. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was conducted in King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH), a tertiary care academic hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from November 2013 to March 2014. Medical students in their second to fifth years (n=444; 213 men and 231 women) completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding awareness of HBV and compliance with the HBV vaccination program in KKUH. RESULTS: Medium to low knowledge levels were present in 53.5% of the participants, and 44.3% reported that they were not compliant with the vaccination program provided by KKUH. While 93.9% received the HBV vaccine upon entry to medical school, only 59.5% received all 3 doses, citing forgetfulness and a busy schedule as common reasons for the low compliance. There was no association between the knowledge and awareness of the participants and their compliance (p=0.988). CONCLUSION: Medical students had a low level of compliance with the HBV vaccination program, regardless of their knowledge and awareness of the disease and vaccination. We recommend that programs and campaigns be developed to increase the overall awareness of this disease. We also suggest that a mandatory HBV vaccination program should be implemented to improve the compliance rate among medical students.
