Knowledge of Risk Factors and Screening for Diabetes Mellitus Among Youths in Southwestern Nigeria

摘要

With the adoption of western lifestyle, youths are at risk of Diabetes mellitus (DM), a disease traditionally known to be common among older people. This study assessed prevalence and knowledge of risk factors for DM among youths in Southwestern Nigeria. Descriptive cross sectional study among 1610 students of tertiary institutions selected by serial recruitments. Research instrument consist of self-administered semi structured and pre-tested questionnaires. Data was analyzed using the SPSS software version 17.0. Mean age of respondents was 22.9 (+2.6) years. Four hundred and sixty (28.6%) were aware of DM. About 321 (19.9%) had good while 1289 (80.1%) had poor knowledge scores of risk factors for DM. The blood sugar level of > 6.1mmol/L (hyperglycemia) showed that 48 (3.0%) were diabetic out of which 32 (66.7%) were females. A total of 21 (1.3%) had transient hypoglycemia out of which 3 (61.9%) were females. Conclusively, DM was not uncommon among Nigerian youths. The poor knowledge scores of risk factors underscores the need for sustained health education targeted at risk reduction and prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) most especially DM.