Assessing the Risk and Awareness of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Among Medical Students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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.