Common public myths about diabetes causes and management in Taif, Saudi Arabia

Diabetes is very common across Saudi Arabia. There are several popular myths concerning diabetes and its management, which could negatively affect the therapy and prognosis of the disease.

to estimate the prevalence of various myths related to diabetes and their impact on management among patients with diabetes and their relatives.

A cross-sectional study (partially with direct contact with participants and partially online) was conducted for a period of 12 months from 1/1/2024 to 31/12/2024 in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, among patients with diabetes and people who accompanied them. Self-administered questionnaire was utilized to collect data. It includes sociodemographic characteristics of the participants and different myths about diabetes.

The study included 364 participants. Females represented most of them (65.7%). The age of more than a third of them (37.1%) ranged between 31 and 40 years, whereas that of 12.4% exceeded 50 years. Among the investigated common public myths about diabetes causes and management, the most frequently agreed by the participants upon were "consuming excessive amounts of sugar leads to the development of diabetes" (62.4%), "severe stress or intense fear can cause diabetes" (49.7%), "all diabetic patients should take vitamin B supplements" (36.8%) and "natural honey does not cause an increase in blood glucose levels" (33.2%). Overall, high agreement with common public myths related to diabetes cause and management was observed in almost a third of the participants (34.3%); particularly lower educated, P = 0.036. Patients who self-reported effectiveness in managing blood sugar were less likely than their counterparts to show a high level of agreement with diabetes-related myths (21.8% vs. 39.7%), P = 0.032.

Several myths related to diabetes are prevailing among the general population in Taif, especially those related to diet, self-care, and therapy. Thus, this study highlights the importance of organizing educational activities to increase knowledge of the general population about the disease.