Investigation of Type 2 Diabetes Risk, its Symptoms and Knowledge Levels in Society

Abstract

Background: The risk of Type 2 diabetes is increasing. Objectives: The study aims to identify Type 2 Diabetes risk, its symptoms and knowledge levels of the adults living in city centres. Methods: The population of this descriptive study consisted of individuals living in a city centre (30 neighborhoods) in 2015, and the sample consisted of individuals living in six neighborhoods (n=1000) randomly selected from the numbers table. The data were obtained by “Personal Information Form, Diabetes Risk Diagnosis Form (DRDF), Diabetes Symptom Diagnosis Form (DSDF) and Diabetes Knowledge Level Form (DKLF)” prepared by the researchers after a literature search. Results: Ages of participants were 33±30, 51.3% of them were male, 35.3% of them were high school graduates and 51.6% of them were married. DRDF=18.50±2.0, DSDF=25.14±4.22 DKLF=25.28±5.68, which were below the mean score. There was a statistically significant difference between DRDF, DSDF and DKLF scores and age, gender, marital status, educational status, body mass index and waist circumference (p<0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between the number of meals consumed per day and the scores of DM symptoms and knowledge level (p<.05), however, there was no statistically significant difference between the number of meals consumed per day and the score of DM risk. It was detected that as the waist circumference of the articipants enlargened, DM risk and symptom scores increased and DM knowledge scores decreased. Conclusion: The risk of diabetes, the incidence of symptoms and diabetes knowledge level were low in the sample group. It is recommended that awareness training sessions and risk screenings are carried out about diabetes. © 2021, Dokuz Eylul University. All rights reserved.