Awareness of Diabetes Mellitus and Physical Activity Level among Malaysian Public

Diabetes mellitus is on the rise in Malaysia and is becoming a public concern, hence the awareness of condition is critical to avoid the increasing prevalence of the condition.

This study determines the level of awareness on Diabetic Mellitus (DM) and the level of physical activity among Malaysian public in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

There were 107 subjects aged 40 years and above participated. Subjects were required to fill in the demographic data, Diabetic Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Chi Square test was performed to identify associations between variables.

Mean aged of subjects was 53.2+ 8.82 years and were mainly women (54.2%). Only 16.8% of the subjects were aged 51 to 60 years (55.61+7.54) who had the highest level of awareness on DM (p>0.05). Subjects with highest educational level had the highest level of awareness on DM (66.7%), followed by those with secondary education (27.8%) and poor educational background (5.6%). No significant differences were found between gender, race, family history of DM and medical problem with the level of DM awareness (p>0.05). Subjects with the highest awareness level got their main source of information on DM awareness from electronic media (77.8%), printed media and health professional (66.7%). Majority of the subjects had the lowest level of physical activity, n=46 (43%) with mean aged 53.72+8.73 years. Most of the subjects with the highest level of DM awareness had only moderate physical activity level (26.3%). There was no significant difference between level of DM awareness with the physical activity level p>0.05.

The level of DM awareness was at the moderate level among the Malaysian public and was influenced by their level of education.