Recognition of diabetes and sociodemographic predictors: results of a cross-sectional nationwide population-based survey in Singapore

Public awareness of war on diabetes campaign and its association with behavioural outcomes

The War on Diabetes campaign was launched in 2016, encouraging Singapore residents to engage in regular exercise, adopt healthy dietary habits and screen for early detection of diabetes. This study aims to examine campaign awareness and its associations with sedentary behaviour, dietary habits and identifying diabetes. Data were obtained from the nationwide Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices study on diabetes in Singapore. A total of 2895 participants responded to a single question assessing campaign awareness. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet screener assessed dietary habits, and the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) measured sedentary behaviour. Recognition of diabetes was established using a vignette depicting a person with diabetes mellitus. Logistic and linear regression models were used to measure the associations. Most participants were 18- to 34-years old (29.9%) and females (51.6%). About 57.4% identified the campaign. Campaign awareness exhibited positive associations with identifying diabetes based on the vignette [odds ratio (OR): 1.5; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1-2.2; P = 0.022], lower odds of sedentary behaviour ≥7 h/day (OR: 0.7; CI: 0.5-0.9; P = 0.018) and higher DASH scores (β = 1.3; P < 0.001). The study recognized early significant associations between the behavioural outcomes and the campaign, emphasizing the need for ongoing campaign sustainability and evaluation of its long-term impact on population health.

General Public's Knowledge of Diabetes and Physical Activity in Saudi Arabia over Time: The Need to Refresh Awareness Campaigns

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major health issue in Saudi Arabia. Prevention of DM and its complications requires an understanding of the disease and modifiable behaviors (e.g., physical activity-PA). The purpose of this study was to examine the trends in knowledge of the general population regarding DM to better understand the shortcomings in the current awareness programs. This article presents a cross-sectional series study where a survey was distributed to a total of 3493 participants over four years, from 2017 till 2020, to assess general knowledge about DM, including information about PA. The mean percentage of correct responses of DM general knowledge was 63.8 ± 19.0 in 2017, which decreased to 61.3 ± 18.7 in 2020 with a significant beta coefficient of -0.8 ± 0.2 (p < 0.001). Participants' awareness about PA remained constantly high for four years: the mean percentage of correct responses was 82.1 ± 23.6 in 2017 and 82.0 ± 23.1 in 2020, and the beta coefficient was -0.5 ± 0.3 (p = 0.147). Furthermore, stratification by demographics showed that the majority of the subgroups (age, sex, educational status, marital status, having relative with DM, nationality) reported a significant declining trend in general DM knowledge. In addition, some of the subgroups also showed a declining trend in PA awareness. Future prevention efforts should assess the community's DM knowledge regularly to tailor awareness efforts to the population segments that need heightened educational interventions.