Abstract

Objectives: To estimate the level of knowledge and practice in type-2 diabetic patients, regarding the effect of lifestyle habits. Also, to estimate the knowledge of diabetic smokers toward smoking cessation benefits and its relation in decreasing diabetic complications, and to estimate the ratio between men and women about the knowledge and practice regarding the effect of lifestyle habits.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a structured questionnaire amongst 332 type-2 diabetic patients observed at the outpatient clinics in 5 hospitals across Riyadh city. Baseline characteristics of the participants were obtained and their knowledge and practice regarding lifestyle modification were assessed.
Results: Out of 332 participants, almost 84.6% of participants knew that physical exercise improves diabetic symptoms but unfortunately 49.4% did not exercise at all. It was also found that almost 45.1% of participants did not know about the effect of cigarette smoking/alcohol consumption on the progression of diabetes, and 50% of active smokers had no awareness about its effect on the progression of the disease. Also, 13.6% of participants did not know about the effect of diet on the progression of type-2 diabetes.
Conclusion: Despite the high level of awareness among the patients regarding its effects on lifestyles in type-2 diabetes mellitus patients, there was a lack of routine physical activity.

Key words: Type-2 diabetes mellitus, knowledge, practice, lifestyle habits, Saudi Arabia.