Abstract
Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder mainly characterized by persistent hyperglycemia, a consequence of abnormalities in the secretion or action of insulin. This pathology represents a global public health problem, due to its sustained growth in recent decades and its association with cardiovascular complications. Objectives: To determine the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus in 4th semester medical students at the University of Guayaquil. Methods: A validation study of diagnostic tests. Where 150 students without a diagnosis of metabolic diseases were randomly selected and the FINDRISC questionnaire, fasting glucose, anthropometric measurements and blood pressure were used, thus determining the performance of the questionnaire with the values provided. Results: When comparing the FINDRISC test result with fasting blood glucose, it was observed that 71.43% had normal glucose with low risk, 23.80% had normal glucose but slightly increased risk, 3.175% showed moderate risk with normal glucose, and only 1.587% presented high or very high risk despite having stable glucose. Overall, 62.5% of students were categorized as low risk according to FINDRISC, 31.25% at slightly increased risk, 6.25% at moderate risk, and no participants reached high or very high risk levels. Conclusion: The use of the FINDRISC questionnaire is a useful tool for assessing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus.