PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AND RISK OF DIABETES MELLITUS IN KSA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Background:The emotional toll that diabetes has taken on people and the healthcare system globally in recent years is staggering. Therefore, the goals of this research were to (1) quantify the incidence of diabetic distress among Saudi individuals and (2) identify the psychosocial drivers of this distress (T2DM). Methods:A descriptive, correlational cross-sectional design was employed for this study. Since this study aims to assess relationship between psychological distress and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus among general population at a single point of measurement, this is the most appropriate design. This enables the researcher to measure the effect and the outcome at a single point of time. This study design gives reliable results with short time and less effort. The study was conducted at (place). Participants were selected during the period from September to November 2022. Study instruments consists of three domains. First is sociodemographic characteristics of participants. Second is psychological distress assessment. Third is determination of the presence of type 2 diabetes. Results:Study included 774 participants from different ages and both genders. Among study participants, there were 443 males (57.2%) and 331 female participants (42.8%). The median age among study participants was 48 years. Among study participants, there were 72 participants had an existing type two diabetes mellitus (T2DM) (9.3%) in addition to 226 participants had a relative with T2DM diagnosis (29.2%). There were 22% of participants demonstrated having psychological distress (n= 170). The median random blood sugar among study participants was 177 mg/dl indicating high random blood sugar and high risk of getting type 2 DM. As the psychological distress was prevalent among 22% among study participants, there were a strong association between type 2 DM and psychological distress (r= 0.87, P<0.001). Female participants had higher percentage of psychological distress than male participants (P= 0.035). In addition, participants who had existing type 2 DM had more psychological distress than others (P= 0.004). Conclusion:Study results showed prevalence of T2DM consisting with current literature. There was strong association between T2DM and psychological distress especially among female participants.