Diabetic Foot Awareness among Diabetic Patients in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Aim of the work: diabetic foot disease(DFD) is diabetic patient's foot affection by ulcers which are accompanied by peripheral vascular disease and/or diabetic neuropathy of the lower limb. Prevalence of diabetic ulcer is ranging from 2%-10%. High rate of lower limb amputation in DFD (More than 15%) and survival rate for undertaken amputation patient are short. Ninety diabetic amputations are performed monthly in Saudi Arabia capital of Riyadh. Identification of DFD and diabetic patient's awareness of DFD and how to take care of it will reduce the incidence of more complications like amputation. This study aimed to evaluate knowledge, education, attitude and practice with diabetic foot among diabetic patients all over Saudi Arabia. Patients and Method: cross-sectional study directed among the diabetic clinic visitors in Primary Health Care Centers (PHCs s). Selection of 55 PHCs was done by random sampling. Ten diabetic patients were randomly selected from each PHCs and collecting of data was done by interviews. Research questionnaire contains three parts; first part is asking about demographic data; second part is about data that are focusing on diabetes and its related questions and last part is the main part which asking about diabetic foot. Results: 519 diabetic patients were participated in this study. Only 180 participants were complaining of diabetic complications (34.7%). Most of participants (55.1%) get high score 7-8 out of 8 questions in Knowledge. Although, there were 166 persons (32%) who couldn’t reach full score in attitude evaluation. There was a large percentage of our participants (69%) had very low score 0-2 out of 6 in assessment of previous education of diabetic foot. More than half of participants (56.5%) had score 6-10 out of 15 in evaluation of practice with diabetic foot. Conclusion: diabetic foot in Saudi Arabia is existing, even amputations and other diabetic foot complications were also present. Diabetic patients have good knowledge and attitude toward diabetic foot. Education about diabetic foot and practice is still weak.