Diabetes Awareness among College Going Students

Background: Awareness of various aspects of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is essential for the prevention, management and control of the disease. However, several studies have consistently shown that awareness of DM is low in the general population. Aims And Objectives: To study the awareness of diabetes mellitus among the college going students. To study on awareness of diabetic symptoms, its complications, and recommended treatment and follow ups among the college going students. Materials And Methods: This is a descriptive study where we interviewed 230 participants of various grades of pre university (PU), undergraduate (UG) and post graduate (PG) course. A questionnaire was administered to the subjects to assess their awareness on symptoms and complications, treatment and management; and monitoring of diabetes. The subjects were studied under PU, UG, PG groups. They were further divided as good, moderate or poor based on their level of awareness. Results: Among the 230 participants 36 were PU, 149 were UG and 45 were PG students. We found 57 % of UG and PG students to have moderate awareness, while 55 % of PU students had good awareness. Of 88 participants from rural area, 53% had moderate knowledge on DM awareness. Good awareness of 44% was seen among students with diabetes in family member. Moderate knowledge was seen among all groups on awareness in general diabetic symptoms. Good knowledge about symptoms and complications was seen among PU (63 %) and UG (64 %) students. Only 5.6% to 6.5% of all grades had good knowledge on treatment and complications of DM. Only 5.6% to 31.2% of all grades had good knowledge about monitoring of diabetes. Conclusion: The level of awareness on DM among our study group was moderate. We feel the health education programs organised by various agencies and organisations can play a leading role to bring up awareness on the diagnosis, lifestyle modifications and complications of DM.