Health behaviors and health services accessibility factors associated with diabetes: a propensity score matching analysis

Background: Despite the increasing burden of diabetes in Turkey, there is a lack of information regarding behaviors and accessibility factors associated with diabetes. This study aims to explore diabetes prevalence and to identify the associated health behaviors and accessibility factors. Research design and methods: Data was gathered from TurkStat-Health Survey for the year 2014. 1996 individuals who had reported diabetes were matched to similar non-diabetes participants in terms of socio-demographic characteristics and comorbidities by using 1:1 nearest matching based on estimated propensity scores. Results: The weighted point prevalence of diabetes among adults was 8.98%. Compared with smokers, non-smokers were less likely to develop diabetes (OR:0.96; 95% CI:0.95-0.97). Individuals engaging in regular physical activity were less likely to have experienced diabetes than individuals not engaging in any physical activity (OR:0.51; 95% CI:0.41-0.52). Conclusions: Improving the health behaviors of individuals and promoting a culture of exercise, healthy food consumption and better planning of preventive services are necessary strategies to fight against diabetes in Turkey. Collaboration between health professionals will result in effective clinical decision making and the development of diabetes self-management programs.