Level of diabetes knowledge among adult patients with diabetes using diabetes knowledge test

OBJECTIVES: To determine the level of diabetes knowledge and to identify the main knowledge gaps among patients with diabetes (both types 1 and 2) as there is a high prevalence of diabetes in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Makkah city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and included governmental primary healthcare centers and hospitals from November 2016 until February 2017. A self-administrated Diabetes Knowledge Test 2 (DKT2) was used to determine the level of diabetes knowledge. It consisted of two parts: general knowledge and insulin use with a global score out of 23. RESULTS: A total of 942 patients with diabetes were enrolled in this study. Male to female ratio was 55.1:44.9, with mean global DKT2 score of 13.3±3.2 (57.8%±13.3%). The majority of patients (66.1%) had average diabetes knowledge while 29.2% had low knowledge, and 4.7% had high knowledge. Better knowledge and significant associations were found with younger ages, high educational levels, longer duration of diabetes, and positive family history of diabetes. CONCLUSION: Patients’ knowledge regarding diabetes was found poor in this study. Hence healthcare providers should pay more attention to diabetes education, especially with respect to dietary concepts. We are strongly advising researchers and physicians in Saudi Arabia to do similar research to determine the level of diabetes knowledge in their fields to get a more comprehensive picture of their patients’ knowledge of diabetes.