Predicting Type II Diabetes Mellitus among Iraqi Adults at Al Anbar Province Using a Finnish Diabetes Risk Score

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is considered as one of the major health problems worldwide. Thus, a simple risk-assessment scoring system for early screening of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among Iraqi adults will be beneficial to identify the high-risk adults and thus taking adequate preventive measures in fighting diabetes mellitus.Aims of the study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of FINDRISC to predict progression to diabetes in an Iraqi population without diabetes.Methodology: A descriptive quantitative design conducted on adult people. It is implemented in order to achieve the objectives of present study, which started from 15 February, 2022 through 15 April, 2022. The instruments have been constructed through the review of available literature, the questionnaire is composed of two parts: Part I: Sociodemographic information; Part II: Finnish Diabetes Risk Score to Predict Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.Results: In total, 100 adult people were included in this study. The result shows that the vast majority of the study sample are within third category of age groups (Mean ± SD 39.2 ± 10.7 yrs.) and accounted for (61.0%). The majority of the study sample for study group have slightly elevated risk of developing type II Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in ten years and they accounted for (40.0%) of the whole sample. The results illustrate that there is high significant relationship between the age groups and the risk of developing type II Diabetes Mellitus score (C.C.= .000). The table also shows that there is non-significant relationship among gender, marital status, occupation status, residency and the risk of developing type II Diabetes Mellitus score (C.C.= .788, .111, .083, .791) retrospectively. Also, there is significant relationship between level of education and the risk of developing type II Diabetes Mellitus score (C.C.= .314). Conclusions: There is significant relationship among age groups, level of education and diabetic risk score. There is non-significant association among gender, marital status, occupation status, residency and diabetic risk score.Recommendations: The research recommends the use of the scale in basic health care, mainly by the nurse as a prevention tool for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus.