Endocrine Abstracts

Background: There is a strong association between type II diabetes mellitus (DM) and gaining weight. Lifestyle modification is an important factor for weight management to overcome the obesity as well as DM epidemics.

Aim of study: To find the differences of eating habits and Rosenberg Self-Esteem between DM patients and control and to find the strongest contributor of risk factors by study groups.

Methods: A hospital-based matched case-control study design was carried out on (250) patients with DM and control seen at Diabetic and Endocrine Centre and other outpatient clinics in Tertiary Teaching Hospital. A binary logistic regression model was used and a P-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: There were significant mean differences of Bad Eating Habits by study groups among all statements except (How many times did you sleep less than five hours at night). There were significant mean differences of Rosenberg Self-Esteem by study groups among for the statements (1, 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10). (35.2%) of DM patients had high Bad Eating Habits and Rosenberg Self-Esteem levels. There were direct weak significant correlations of Bad Eating Habits and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scales by DM patients (r=0.286, P=0.001*) and control (r=0.314, P<0.001*). DM patients were 0.91 and 0.86 less likely to report bad eating habits and high Rosenberg Self-Esteem than control, respectively. DM patients were 19, 18 and 3 times more likely to have brothers and parent with DM than control as well as to have high HBA1c, respectively.

Conclusion: Assessing eating behaviors of diabetic patients as a routine nutritional assessment is an important implication in patient’s health. Therefore, considering the complex association between diabetes and its health related consequences, there is a considerable need for educating diabetic patients.

Keywords: Bad Eating Habits, Type II Diabetes Mellitus, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, HBA1c, waist circumference