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86707

Knowledge of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus among Prenatal Women Attending a Public Health Center in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

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Tags

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Abstract

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a current health problem that affects pregnant women and fetuses. Addressing GDM offers a window of opportunity for the prevention of DM in Saudi Arabia. Here, we aimed to assess the current level of knowledge regarding GDM among prenatal women attending primary healthcare centers (PHCs) in the city of Al-Khobar. We also aimed to increase the awareness of GDM and to determine the significance of this study within the Saudi Arabian context. Methods: After obtaining informed consent from the study subjects, a pre-validated, structured questionnaire was used to assess GDM knowledge among prenatal women attending PHCs in the city of Al-Khobar. Results: We included 471 prenatal women in the study (mean age: 29 years). Overall, 36.5% of the women had good knowledge of GDM, while 50.5% had fair knowledge, and 13% had poor knowledge. Most women (> 99%) were literate and identified themselves as housewives (75.4%). The knowledge score concerning how GDM is diagnosed was 45.3%. Approximately 41.4% women had undergone tests for GDM. Furthermore, 65.8% of the participants were aware of GDM treatment. However, only 39.5% were aware of the consequences of GDM. A major source of GDM knowledge was reported to be from friends and relatives. Conclusion: Although knowledge of GDM as a disease in Al-Khobar community was average, the depth of this knowledge was poor. Thus, doctors and healthcare providers must play a greater role in improving health education among prenatal women. Furthermore, suitable intervention programs should urgently be undertaken by the Ministry of Health to improve GDM knowledge among this population.

DOI

10.21608/ejhm.2020.86707

Keywords

Gestational diabetes, Knowledge, level of knowledge, Awareness

Authors

First Name

Abdullah

Last Name

Alnaim

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Family and Community Medicine Department, College of Medicine-Al Hassa, King Faisal University, AI Hfouf, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Email

a.alnaim@hotmail.com

City

-

Orcid

0000-0001-7564-2639

Volume

80

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

13031

Issue Date

2020-07-01

Receive Date

2020-05-03

Publish Date

2020-07-01

Page Start

560

Page End

569

Print ISSN

1687-2002

Online ISSN

2090-7125

Link

https://ejhm.journals.ekb.eg/article_86707.html

Detail API

https://ejhm.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=86707

Order

2

Type

Original Article

Type Code

606

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine

Publication Link

https://ejhm.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Knowledge of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus among Prenatal Women Attending a Public Health Center in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023