Risk Factors of Type 2 Diabetes in Saudi Arabia

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that is widespread because of increases in the prevalence of a sedentary lifestyle and obesity. In recent years, there has been a global epidemic in Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DMT2) among all ethnic and racial groups which is becoming a major problem among adults, including Saudi Arabia, (Al-Daghri et al, 2011)where regional variation has also been identified, with the Northern region being the highest and the Southern, the most conservative province, the lowest. These regional differences may be impacted by cultural and economic factors; as well as levels of physical activity, eating habits and climate(Al-nozha et al, 2004). In connection with above information, world health organization(WHO) found that unhealthy diets and physical inactivity significantly associated with causes of the most non communicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes(Alzohairy et al, 2011).

Global prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is on the increase, where estimated 366 million of people in 2030 worldwide (Abdullah et al, 2009). For Saudi Arabia, the prevalence of (DM) being as high as 23.7% among adult citizens, (Abdullah et al, 2009; Sabra et al, 2009; Mohieldein et al,2011) and the worse 27.9% of diabetics unaware of having (DM) (Al-nozha et al, 2004). In 2010, the IDF also reported that Saudi Arabia is one of the five countries with the highest diabetes prevalence in the adults (Diabetes UK,2010). To understand the causes of these high prevalence rates different studies have been conducted aiming at identifying behavioural factors that influence the development of adults type 2 diabetes. Saadia et al.’s (2010) found that There is a significant connection between high spread of physical inactivity and increase the risk of type II diabetes in the Saudi citizens. Alzohairy et al.’s (2011) emphasised that physical activity and changes in dietary habits prevent development of type 2 diabetes.

Type 2...