OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of Saudis who are at risk for type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and explore the association between sociodemographic variables and the risk of developing T2DM.

METHODS: This was a web-based cross-sectional survey that targeted non-diabetic Saudis from January 2021 to January 2022. Participants were recruited by snowball sampling strategy using social media. The participant’s risk of developing T2DM was assessed using the validated Arabic version of the Canadian Diabetes Risk Assessment Questionnaire (ARABRISK). The association of high ARABRISK score and sociodemographic variables was analyzed by a multivariable logistic regression model.

RESULTS: A total of 4559 participants were included. Eighty-eight percent of the participants were aged between 18 to 39 years and 67.2% had a college/university degree. The median calculated ARABRISK score was 16 (interquartile range [IQR] 10 to 25). High ARABRISK scores (>=33) were found in 7.5% of the total sample. Living in a medium-size city compared to a large-size city was associated with a lower ARABRISK risk score with an odds ratio (OR)=0.63, 95% confidence interval (CI):0.45 to 0.88, P=0.007. In addition, private insurance and non-employment were associated with lower ARABRISK scores with OR=0.67 (95% CI:0.50 to 0.88, P=0.005) and OR=0.63 (95% CI:0.48 to 0.82, P<0.001), respectively. Contrarily, being married (OR=4.42, 95% CI:3.24 to 6.03, P<0.001), divorced or widowed (OR=4.40, 95% CI:2.57 to 7.54, P<0.001), and retired (OR=4.63, 95% CI:3.06 to 7.00, P<0.001) were associated with a high ARABRISK risk score.

CONCLUSIONS: In this web-based cross-sectional study, with most participants being young and having a high degree of education, the risk of developing T2DM was relatively low. The risk increases in participants living in a large city, being married, divorced, or widowed, retiring, and not having private insurance. A large population study is needed to quantify the risk of T2DM among Saudi citizens.