Background: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is on the rise in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), as well as other Middle Eastern countries. A risk-stratified approach to managing these patients in primary care has been established, according to management guidelines. Diabetic patient care is dependent on both the health care providers and the type of health care setting.

Aims: To assess the quality of care delivered to diabetic patients compared to standards of the American diabetes association (ADA) in studied population in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Materials and Methods: This is an observational cross-sectional study was conducted in the primary health care centers in cluster 1, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study involved 386 respondents, who were selected by a convenient sampling technique. Data analysis was performed using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23.

Results: A total of 386 participants included in this study. The mean age was 55.4.

11.0 years (range 27-99) and more than half of the respondents were males (54.4%). The vast majority of the participants had their blood pressure measured in their visits. Only 24.1% and 30.6% underwent foot and eye examinations respectively during their last year of follow-up. Moreover, our result revealed that haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) was measured at 3-6 months intervals in nearly half of the patients and it was ≤ 7 in 43.5% of them. In addition, the albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) was measured in 4.1% and it was normal in most of them. Furthermore, our findings showed that only a few number of the participants developed macrovascular complications, 3.6% had a stroke and 4.7% had a heart attack. Lastly, we found that there was no significant association between ACR and the different socio-demographic characteristics of our participants and the control of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Conclusion: Our results concluded that the quality of care delivered to diabetic patients in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia was below the average when compared to the standards of the American diabetes association. More studies are needed to determine the causes of this lack of optimal services. Furthermore, training and proper interventional programs are strongly recommended to improve overall quality of care for these patients.