Towards improving the health of a new generation: identifying risk factors for diabetes in UiTM pharmacy students / Nor Farhah Idayu Abdul Ghaffar

In Malaysia, diabetes has become one of ten major diseases that lead to a significant burden on the healthcare system. Holding 6th place among men and 5th place among women. Malaysia is expected to face an increasing prevalence of diabetes from 11.6% in 2010 to an estimated 13.8% in 2030. The purpose of this study is to determine the risk factor of diabetes among third-year pharmacy students at UITM together with their level of knowledge regarding diabetes. Questionnaires were distributed among 113 among the students and their blood pressure, weight and height were measured. The results show that risk factors present among students include a family history of diabetes, high BMl, obesity, hypertension, sedentary lifestyle and an unhealthy diet. 35.40% of the students have a family history of diabetes, 20.35% of them have a high BMl as 12.39% are overweight and 7.96% are obese. 21.25% of the students also having higher blood pressure out of normal range where 20.35% have pre-hypertension and 0.90% with hypertension, 61.90% categorised as having unhealthy lifestyle where females tended to exhibit a more sedentary lifestyle compared to male and most of the students also practice unhealthy dietary intake. There is an average attitude on diet and lifestyle among the students and there is a relationship between attitude and BMl categories with most of the overweight and obese participants displaying an average and below average attitude respectively. The students generally have good knowledge of diabetes and understand the role of pharmacist in diabetes management.