Assessment of Type 2 Diabetes Awareness and Knowledge in the Non-medical Bahraini Population

Background With type 2 diabetes (T2D) posing an escalating health challenge to the Kingdom of Bahrain, enhancing public awareness becomes instrumental in mitigating disease outcomes. This study aimed to appraise the level of T2D awareness among the non-medical Bahraini population by evaluating their understanding of the disease, its risk factors, symptoms, complications, monitoring, and prevention methods. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study from March 2022 to June 2022. The study employed an electronic survey using Google® Forms (Google LLC, Mountain View, California, USA) targeting non-healthcare workers aged 15 and above. The survey consisted of multiple yes-and-no questions designed to evaluate different aspects of respondents' T2D knowledge. Results Out of 835 participants, a total of 613 participants were included. The overall awareness of T2D was found to be average (70.6% CI±6.214, SD ±8.80%). The mean scores of correct answers in the different sections such as general knowledge, risk factors, symptoms, complications, treatment, monitoring, and prevention of T2D were 54.5% CI ±14.8, 75.5% CI±12.5, 77.6% CI±5.3, 61.8% CI±8.5, and 73.4% CI±5.4 respectively. Furthermore, the diabetic population scored an average of 76.7% in awareness in comparison to the non-diabetic population which scored 72.5% in overall awareness. Conclusions These findings underscore the pressing need to enhance T2D awareness among the Bahraini population. Implementing early education programs and strategically utilizing social media platforms may aid in bolstering public understanding of T2D, aiming ultimately to reduce its prevalence and associated economic burden.