PDF herunterladen
Open Access
CC BY 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2025; 15(04): 139-148
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1812884
Original Article

Understanding Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and the Knowledge Gaps among Future Health Care Professionals: Insights from Saudi Arabia

Autor*innen

  • Zeeshan Feroz

    1   Department of Basic Sciences, College of Science and Health Professions, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
    2   King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  • Ismail Memon

    3   Department of Human Body Structure and Function, Saba University School of Medicine, Church Street, Saba, Netherlands

  • Nader Alharbi

    1   Department of Basic Sciences, College of Science and Health Professions, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
    2   King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  • Abdulmohsen Alkushi

    2   King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
    4   Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  • Yazeed Alrayani

    4   Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Weitere Informationen
Auch verfügbar auf
  Lizenzen und Reprints

Abstract

Background

Saudi Arabia ranks seventh in the world for diabetes prevalence, yet many individuals are unaware of the disease. Increasing awareness, particularly among future health professionals who are often consulted for guidance, is essential to reduce the burden of diabetes. It is needed; to what extent do preprofessional health sciences students in Saudi Arabia understand type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), including prevention, screening, and treatment? This study aimed to assess the knowledge and awareness of T2DM among preprofessional health sciences students in Saudi Arabia, with a focus on prevention, screening, and treatment.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 429 health professions students (required sample size: 317). The questionnaire included demographic data followed by 47 questions assessing knowledge of diabetes. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize demographic characteristics, while logistic regression with the forward-backward with early dropping variable selection algorithm (R package MXM) was applied to analyze the influence of demographic factors on knowledge scores.

Results

Out of the 429 participants, 63.6% were male and 36.4% were females. The majority (92.1%) were aged 20 years or younger, with 60.1% being first-year students. A notable percentage (78.1%) reported having diabetic relatives. Most participants (96.3%) recognized that diabetes is preventable; however, 86.7% mistakenly thought that prediabetes is irreversible. While over 90% exhibited good understanding of the symptoms and risk factors of diabetes, 63.6% were unaware of the role of oral hypoglycemic agents in treatment. Conversely, knowledge regarding the use of insulin e was well comprehended by 93.0% of the respondents.

Conclusion

The study suggests that health professional students in Saudi Arabia have a good understanding of type 2 diabetes; however, they exhibit a deficiency in knowledge about the use of oral hypoglycemic agents and the potential for reversing prediabetes. By addressing these gaps through curricular enhancements, future health care professionals could be better prepared to confront the escalating diabetes epidemic in the region.

Keywords

awareness - diabetes mellitus - knowledge - undergraduate students

Authors' Contributions

Z.F.: designed and supervised the study, wrote the first draft of the manuscript, manuscript revision, and submission. I.M.: helped in study design, manuscript writing, and revision. N.A.: statistically analyzed the data and helped in writing the results section. A.A.A.: helped in study design and manuscript revision. Y.A.: collected data from students and helped in manuscript revision. All authors have read and approved the final form of the manuscript.




Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
13. November 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India