Diabetes Awareness, Perceived Complications, and Prevention Practices among Rural Dwellers in Selected Parts of Imo State, Nigeria

Diabetes mellitus is a growing serious public health challenge, especially in low and middle-income nations where knowledge and management of the condition remains poor. The current study aimed at evaluating awareness about risk factors, symptoms, preventive methods, complications of diabetes and public knowledge about the illness among rural residents of Owerri West and Owerri North LGAs of Imo State. A descriptive cross sectional survey design was applied among 1,200 respondents randomly selected from six rural communities of Owerri North and Owerri West LGAs via a multistage sampling procedure. Questionnaire data collection tool was employed in gathering information that was analyzed statistically using frequency distribution table. The prevalence rate for diabetes was 15.0% compared to previous figures found nationally in Nigeria. Type-2 diabetes constituted 66.7% of the diagnosed diabetes cases while 11.1% of the study participants did not know their types of diabetes. Moderate levels of overall knowledge were recorded for diabetes with 41.7% having poor, 33.3% fair and 25.0% good levels of diabetes knowledge. Risk factors were known by most of the respondents; family history (66.7%), obesity (58.3%), unhealthy diet (50.0%), alcohol (41.7%) and cigarette smoking (37.5%). Frequent urination (66.7%), excessive thirst (62.5%) and fatigue (58.3%) were the well-known diabetes symptoms. Exercise, healthy eating habits, and maintaining body weight were cited by most of the participants (75.0%, 70.8%, and 66.7%, respectively), as important preventive strategies. Participants' knowledge about serious complications such as heart diseases, kidney diseases, and vision loss (70.8%, 66.7%, and 62.5%, respectively) was found to be relatively good. However, poor knowledge about complications such as sexual dysfunction and dental problems was noted. Thus, based on this study, there is a clear indication that while the level of knowledge about diabetes is relatively satisfactory, there are still notable knowledge gaps.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; awareness; complications; prevention; rural communities; public health; Imo State; Nigeria.