Awareness of People Referring to Shiraz Health Centers with Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study

Diabetes and its consequences increase the health system costs. Therefore, prevention and early diagnosis can reduce the cost and consequences. The studies have emphasized the role of education in treatment and people’s awareness of prevention and early diagnosis. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the awareness of people referring to Shiraz health centers with diabetes.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 270 people aged 12-65 Y/O referred to Shiraz health centers in Iran in 2019. Participants completed an 18-item questionnaire with subscales of demographic data, general information about patients, causes and factors of diabetes, symptoms and diagnosis, prevention and treatment, and consequences and problems. Furthermore, other information, such as the presence of diabetic patients in the family and sources of information, was recorded. Data were analyzed using SPSS software-21.

The participants’ mean age was 33.96±10.05; 54.82% were female, and 45.18% were male. The main sources of information were friends and relatives. The mean score of awareness was calculated to be 15.18±5.03. Statistical tests revealed a significant relationship between job, educational levels, age, and source of information with the score of awareness (P<0.001), while this relationship with gender (P=0.068), marital status (P=0.196), and family history (P=0.060) was insignificant.

Overall, public awareness of diabetes in Shiraz was found to be moderate. Moreover, it is observed that men, married individuals, as well as older and less educated people exhibited lower levels of awareness. Hence, it is recommended that these factors be taken into account when designing health system programs aimed at educating all communities about diabetes.