Dietary Knowledge and Eating Habits among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Lebanon
Table 2
Medical and diabetes-related characteristics of patients with T2D included in the study (n = 351).
Mean (n)
Standard deviation (%)
Duration of diabetes (years)
9.75
8.5
Missing (n = 30)
Family history of diabetes
No
54
15.4
Yes
269
84.6
Presence of diabetes complications
No
213
60.7
Yes
138
39.3
Presence of other chronic diseases
No
180
51.3
Yes
171
48.7
Lipid lowering medications
No
257
73.2
Yes
94
26.8
HbA1c testing during the last 3 months
Did not test
121
34.5
Tested but did not know the level
65
18.5
Tested and knew the level
165
47.0
Daily blood glucose testing by fingerprick
No
158
45.0
Once
162
46.2
1 to 4 times
23
6.6
More than 4 times
8
2.3
Checking nutritional composition of foods
No
253
72.1
Yes
98
27.9
Responsible for diabetes care
Patient himself
81
23.1
Family member
137
39.0
Physician
133
37.9
Help from family/friends in medication administration
No
132
37.6
Yes
219
62.4
Help from family/friends in dietary intake
No
154
43.9
Yes
197
56.1
Source of dietary knowledge
Physician
126
35.9
Dietitian
35
10.0
Diabetes organizations
58
16.5
Social media
188
53.6
Summary statistics are expressed as mean and standard deviation for continuous variables and as frequency and percentage for categorical variables. Among diabetes complications reported, cardiovascular disease accounted for 27.9% (n = 98), kidney problems for 6.3% (n = 22), peripheral problems for 6.6% (n = 23), dental problems for 4.0% (n = 14), and nerve damage and pain for 1.7% (n = 6). Among chronic diseases reported, liver disease accounted for 1.1% (n = 4), cancer for 6.3% (n = 22), cardiovascular diseases for 21.9% (n = 77), dyslipidemia for 16.8% (n = 59), renal disease for 8.0% (n = 28), and hypertension for 39.6% (n = 139).
