Diabetes is a disease with high social burdens and is expected to increase gradually. A long-term management is essential for the treatment of diabetes, requiring patient self-cares. Diabetes education is important for such self-cares, but it does not sufficiently take place. In addition, little studies have been conducted on the barriers to the completion of diabetes education. This study, thus, aimed to analyze the factors related to the completion of diabetes education and investigate its barriers.

Of 50,405 respondents to the fourth and fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a total of 3,820 were selected for the analysis, excluding those aged 29 or younger and those with missing values. The completion of diabetes education was set as a dependent variable and an analysis was made on the factors that affect the dependent variable. A multivariable logistic regression was employed for the analysis.

Lower educational level was associated with less diabetes education, and the degree of diabetes education was lower in the group with male, the group that didn't have a family history or was not aware of a family history, the group that was not currently aware of diabetes and the group without a spouse. There was no difference in the completion of diabetes education by underlying diseases, family income level, age, residing area, economic activity status, insurance coverage, smoking, and drinking.

Diabetes education is of importance for the treatment and management of diabetes. Currently, however, diabetes education is not sufficiently carried out in Korea. The completion rate of diabetes education was low in male, patients without or not knowing a family history, patients who were not currently aware of their diabetes, patients without a spouse, and patients with low educational level. Therefore, encouraging these patients to take the education will be a more effective approach to increase the completion rate of diabetes education.