Effectiveness of diabetes self-care education at primary health care centres in Saudi Arabia: A pragmatic randomized trial in Tabuk

OBJECTIVE: The present trial aimed to assess the effectiveness of the structured Information, Education, and Communication provided by trained health educators at primary care on the mean body mass index, waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, and the level of blood pressure, among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. RESEARCH METHODS: This was a 12-month pragmatic clustered randomized trial where 180 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were enrolled in 2020. Five primary health care centres were randomly allocated to either the intervention or control arm. RESULTS: There was a comparable significant reduction in the mean scores of waist circumference among participants in the intervention versus control arm over 12 months: I =108.7:C = 85.8 cm (P value = 0.001), I = 109.2:C = 86.02 cm (P value = 0.001), and I = 105.6:C = 87.2 cm (P value = 0.001) in the first, sixth, and twelfth months, respectively. A significant reduction in the mean scores of body mass index in the intervention versus control arm only in the first month: I =31.7:C = 26.5 cm (P value = 0.001). However, there was a comparable significant reduction in the mean scores of fasting blood glucose in the intervention versus control arm over 12 months: I =2016.5:C = 185.3 mmol/l (P value = 0.011), I = 207.4:C = 168.04 mmol/l (P value = 0.002), and I = 2012.7:C = 158.6 mmol/l (P value = 0.001) in the first, sixth, and twelfth months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The delivery of structured diabetes self-care education for diabetics by trained health educators at primary health care has a beneficiary effect on reducing the mean body mass index, waist circumference, and blood glucose. Similarly, it decreases high blood pressure.