Saudi Arabia is among the top 10 countries with the highest prevalence of diabetes. Cost of prevention and the indirect cost must be calculated to increase the awareness of society and to emphasize disease prevention and limit further complications.

To understand the importance of awareness and the impact on the expenditure of diabetes mellitus and treatments outcomes.

A prospective descriptive and comparative survey was carried out among patients with diabetes mellitus in Saudi Arabia.

One hundred and one participants were included in the study of which 40% were female and one third were above the age of 50. The mean of the first HbA1c reading was 6.95, and the median was 7. The mean of the second reading of HbA1c was 7.26, and the median was 7. The mean body mass index was 32.1, and the median was 30.9. The average yearly cost of the medication was 995.14 SR. Comparing participants who think that a healthy low-sugar diet can affect blood sugar with those who do not, showed a statistically significant difference when cost was considered (P value = 0.03). Also, when comparing the group of participants who know when to take their oral hyperglycemic medicine and their yearly direct cost and those who do not know when to take it, by using independent sample T test, showed significant statistical difference (P value = 0.046).

It is essential for the governments to invest in ways to prevent and help in the early detection of such an expensive disease by performing national screening and education programs. Many pharmaco-economic studies can be done to help the decision-maker in our hospitals think about strategies to help the patient to be physically fit by offering gymnasium or places to walk or contract.

Stroke is largely preventable, and therefore, a better understanding of risk factors is an essential step in reducing the population stroke rate and resulting disease burden in Arab countries.

We performed 2 separate analyses in 2 similar populations of patients with noncardioembolic ischemic stroke. This first involved 3,635 patients in the Outcomes in Patients with TIA and Cerebrovascular disease (OPTIC) registry (followed for 2 years), with baseline collection of the usual risk factors and 5 socioeconomic variables (unemployment status, residence in rural area, living in fully serviced accommodation, no health-insurance coverage, and low educational level). The second involved patients in the PERFORM trial (n = 19,100 followed up for 2 years), with baseline collection of the usual risk factors and 1 socioeconomic variable (low educational level). The primary outcome was a composite of nonfatal stroke, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular death. Stroke risk factors were more prevalent in patients in Arab countries. The incidence of major cardiovascular events (MACE; age- and gender-adjusted) was higher in Arab countries (OPTIC, 18.5 vs. 13.3%; PERFORM, 18.4 vs. 9.7%; both p ≤ 0.0001). These results remained significant after adjustment on risk factors and were attenuated in OPTIC after further adjustment on socioeconomic variables (hazard ratio 1.24; 95% CI 0.98-1.55; p = 0.07). Key Messages: Patients with ischemic stroke living in Arab countries had a lower mean socioeconomic status, a much higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus, and a higher rate of MACE compared with patients from non-Arab countries. This finding is partly explained by a higher prevalence of risk factors and also by a high prevalence of poverty and low educational level.