ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to assess the predisposing risk factors and health belief towards diabetes mellitus among young adults in Umuahia North LGA. A descriptive cross sectional study was adopted which included young adults in the study area. A purposive sampling method was used to select the respondents in the study. A total sample of 238 young adults aged between  18-25 years were selected. The selected individuals were interviewed using a structured and modified questionnaire which comprised of the socio demographic and socio-economic characteristics, predisposing risk factors   Of diabetes mellitus, health belief models and dietary patterns. The data was analyzed using IBM SPSS (version 23)  pear-son’s correlation was used to determine the relation ship between socio economic and predisposing risk factors of Diabetes mellitus. The level of significance was set at a p-value <0.05. Results revealed that 35.5% of the respondents were between 18-20 years and the majority which were 44.4% were between 24-25 years and 67.1-% were females.  It further revealed that 51.3% of the respondents were self-employed and 61.5% has never checked there blood sugar before.  Most of the respondents 33.3% skip lunch meals The study shows that young adults who have history of diabetes in their family or have unhealthy lifestyle are at the risk of diabetes mellitus.  There is need to give critical attention to the predisposing risk factors of diabetes mellitus among young adults and encourage healthy lifestyle and healthy diets as the basis of prevention of diabetes mellitus among young adults in Umuahia North.