Abstract
Background: Diabetes Mellitus is a multifactorial metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycaemia which on long standing results in microvascular and macrovascular complications. Knowledge, attitude and practices concerning diabetes mellitus are imperative to minimize the prevalence and morbidity associated with diabetes mellitus. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a teaching rural hospital among 100 known diabetic patients visiting the hospital for regular check-up. The self-administered questionnaire collected the data to assess knowledge, attitude and practices towards diabetes and knowledge determinant factors. Participant's socio-demographic characteristics including gender, level of education and duration of diabetes was reported using descriptive statistics. Mean and SD was used to express the age, anthropometric measurements, glucose levels and knowledge score. The response of knowledge, attitude and practice questions was expressed as frequency and percentage. The logistic regression analysis was done to determine the association between gender, age group, educational status and duration of diabetes with knowledge score. The level of statistical significance was set at p< 0.05. Results: Of the total 100participants, 52% were males and 135 were illiterate. 77% had good knowledge of diabetes symptoms, risk factors, complications, life style modifications and glucose monitoring. 77%, 88% and 76% had good knowledge, positive attitude and good practices respectively. The regression analysis showed increased odds of good knowledge among females [(1.552 (0.559 - 4.311)] and in subjects with diabetes of more than 5years [1.090 (0.278 – 4.264)]. Further the analysis showed that the knowledge on diabetes was poor as participant's age advanced [OR: 0.281(0.065 - 1.217) & OR: 0.199 (0.046 – 0.864)]. Additionally, there were increased odds of good knowledge in participants with increase in educational level. Conclusion: Majority of the participants had good knowledge, positive attitude and good practices, however there is still scope for improvement in the areas such as inclusion of regular exercise, periodic lipid profile analysis and eye examination.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
