Assessment of patients’ knowledge and attitudes towards self-insulin administration and skin manifestations in the regions of Aseer

Abstract

Background: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is one of the most widely prevalent diseases in Saudi Arabia. Health education is considered essential to improve knowledge and change behavior. People affected by diabetes often have inadequate knowledge about the nature of diabetes, its risk factors, and associated complications. Methods: The study employed a cross sectional design and was conducted in Aseer, Saudi Arabia. We used a validated scale to measure the participants’ knowledge. A sample of 182 patients was conveniently selected from primary health care centres. Findings: Regarding the study participants’ knowledge of diabetes mellitus, the results showed that 53.8% of patients are diagnosed with type I diabetes compared to 46.2% diagnosed with type II. Also, the study results revealed that 81.3% of patients have a positive family history of diabetes. Furthermore, 51.8% of patients have a controlled blood glucose level as evident by HBAIc being less than 7. Conclusions: The injected insulin in the lipoatrophy area may lead to inappropriate absorption of the insulin and poor blood glucose level control with unpredictable hypoglycemia. Keywords: Knowledge, attitude, insulin injection users, the skin manifestations, Saudi Arabia