Assessment of Diabetes Knowledge and Attitudes Among Non-Diabetic Adults in Iraq: A Cross-Sectional Study of Awareness, Risk Perception, and Preventive Understanding

Objective: To assess diabetes mellitus-related knowledge, attitudes, risk perception, and preventive understanding among non-diabetic adults in Iraq.
Methods: This cross-sectional study used convenience, voluntary sampling to recruit adults aged 18 years or older without a prior diagnosis of diabetes mellitus from different regions of Iraq between June and October 2025. Participants completed a culturally adapted questionnaire assessing sociodemographic characteristics, diabetes mellitus knowledge, attitudes, information sources, and beliefs regarding prevention. Descriptive statistics, Mann–Whitney U tests, quantile regression, and binary logistic regression were used.
Results: The study included 874 participants. Nearly half (48.4%) reported a family history of diabetes mellitus. Common symptoms, such as frequent urination (89.9%) and excessive thirst (84.2%), were widely known, whereas less obvious symptoms, such as unexpected weight loss, were significantly less well recognized. Awareness of some complications, such as loss of consciousness (94.2%) and amputation (93.8%), was high, while awareness of others, such as kidney damage (69.5%) and eye disorders (78.3%), was moderate. Quantile regression analysis showed significantly lower knowledge scores among participants without a medical background (β = −4.214, p < 0.001). In addition, higher knowledge scores were significantly associated with more positive attitudes toward diabetes mellitus (OR odds ratio = 1.179, 95% confidence interval: 1.108–1.255, p < 0.001), whereas older age was associated with less favorable attitudes (odds ratio = 0.545, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: Adults without diabetes in Iraq demonstrated a good basic understanding of diabetes mellitus; however, important gaps remain in knowledge of symptoms, complications, and some key risk factors. These findings highlight the urgent need for practical, evidence-based public health education to support prevention efforts and reduce the future burden of diabetes mellitus.