A cross-sectional evaluation on type 2 diabetes risk and the postprandial blood glucose level among undergraduate pharmacy students

• Main Authors: Burhan, Siti Aisyah, Soe, May Khin Soe
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: RS Pharmacy and materia medica
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/85089/1/Our%20Poster%2020.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/85089/9/Cover%20page%20abstract%20book%20Dr.%20May.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/85089/; https://68fca4bd-e520-4e06-b97b-36c6a1c9606f.filesusr.com/ugd/66925b_d2e534b3237f4db6bc41cd442a7c880d.pdf

Most of University students usually underestimate the risk of diabetes mellitus though a recent survey showed that an estimated 3.9 million Malaysians aged 18 and above are suffering from diabetes. This cross-sectional study aimed to heighten the awareness of risk of diabetes mellitus among future pharmacists and to assess their diabetes risk score (DRS) with postprandial glucose level (PPG). To conduct this study, two batches of undergraduate year 1 Pharmacy students, total (n=221); 107 from 2018/19 (group A) and 114 from 2019/2020 (group B) intake were recruited. Both male and female students were 19-21 year- old. Anthropometric measurement, self-assessed (DRS) and (PPG) level were collected and analysed descriptively using SPSS version 22. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to measure any differences between two groups. There were no differences in body mass index (BMI) and DRS between both groups; mean BMI for A were 22.23 kg/m2 vs. 21.81 kg/m2 for B (p=0.149) and mean DRS for A was 8.93 vs. 8.39 for B (p=0.172). Mean (DRS) of all students was 8.65 ± 2.97. Overall, majority of total (n=132, 59.72 %) have slightly elevated risk of diabetes and 33 students (14.93%) are under the moderate and high-risk categories despite being young. Mean PPG of group A (5.55 ± 0.78 mmol/L) was slightly higher than that of group A subjects (5.43 ± 0.68 mmol/L), p=0.194. However, small sample size may be a limitation of this study. The students successfully obtained their risk score and learned the causes which contributed to the diabetes mellitus.