Identifying diabetes risks among Indonesians: A cross-sectional study in a community setting

Background: There is an upward surge in diabetes patients worldwide, including in Indonesia,
annually. Diabetes can lead to new diseases that burden patients’ lives further. Nurses can
reduce this problem by identifying people at risk of developing diabetes and educating them
on how to prevent diabetes.
Objective: The study aimed to determine the risk of diabetes in the Indonesian population.
Methods: The descriptive research involved a sample of 1216 Indonesians living in North
Sumatra Province. Participants were nondiabetic individuals selected using the convenience
method from May to October 2020. This study utilized the Indonesian version of the Finnish
Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) tool and employed various statistical analyses, including
frequencies, percentages, chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test.
Results: Of the total samples, 372 were males (30.6%), and 844 were females (69.4%). The
risk of developing diabetes was classified as low (57.1%), slightly elevated (36.4%), moderate
(5.3%), high (1.0%), and very high (0.2%). Only one of the eight risk factors that differed
significantly between men and women was a history of elevated blood glucose levels, with a
p-value of 0.02.
Conclusion: The study identified a portrait of the number and percentage of diabetes risk
factors in a community setting in Indonesia. Nurses must provide education on diabetes
prevention to not only members of the local community at the research site but also the general
public, nationally and globally.