Diabetes Risk Susceptibility and Associated Risk Factors among Undergraduates of a Private Medical University in Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4314/njbmb.v40i1.8Keywords:
Diabetes mellitus, risk scoring , FINDRISC, risk factors, Nigeria, UndergraduatesAbstract
The identification of undiagnosed type-2 diabetes mellitus and the prevention of the disease in at-risk individuals can be achieved by diabetes risk scoring. This study was aimed at an assessment of diabetes risk susceptibility among undergraduate students of a private medical University in Nigeria. The study involved 153 participants (male and female) drawn from PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. They were subjected to anthropometric measurements following standard protocol while diabetes risk scoring was done using the Finnish diabetes risk scoring (FINDRISC) tool. Majority of the participants (61.4%) were in the lowest age group of 15-20 years. More females (68.6%) relative to males (31.4%) participated in the study. Low risk was found in 68% (89.6% in males vs 58.1% in females), slightly elevated risk was found in 25.5% (8.3% in males vs 33.3% in females), moderately elevated risk was found in 4.6% (2.1% in males vs 5.7% in females) while high risk was found in 2% (0.0% in males vs 2.9% in females) of the study population. Females had elevated diabetes risk status compared to males. Risk status was significantly associated with participants’ gender (p=0.002). Participants’ body mass index (p<0.001), waist circumference (p<0.001), previous diagnosis of diabetes (p<0.001) and family history of diabetes (p<0.001) were significantly associated with the risk of future onset of type-2 diabetes mellitus. Lifestyle modification is recommended in the study population in order to forestall future transitioning of participants to a higher diabetes risk status.
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The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Anthony C. Nnamudi, Utibe E. Bassey, Okon E. Etim, Favor Udoeyop, Ijeoma N. Eke-Ogaranya (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
