Identification of Therapy Pattern and Compliance of Life Style Modifications in Diabetic Patients from Rural Areas of Puducherry

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity throughout the world. Despite India being the diabetes capital of the world with a high prevalence even in rural regions, pharmacotherapy of diabetes is not uniform throughout the country. With this background, we aimed to identify patterns in pharmacotherapy and willingness and preferred choices of lifestyle modifications in diabetic patients hailing from rural areas of Puducherry.Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional survey was conducted with a validated questionnaire among 200 diabetic patients in rural areas of the union territory of Puducherry. Eligible patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study and were subjected to the validated questionnaire. Data were entered into M.S. Excel 2010. Categorical variables were expressed as frequencies and percent-ages.Results: The current study shows that 78% (n=156) of the study population was overweight. Only 15% (n=30) of the patients observed symptoms of diabetes mellitus indicating poor glycemic control and more than 25% (n=50) of the patients had retinopathy within two years of diagnosis. Almost 17% (n=34) of the patients felt that they should attend the doctor’s clinic only for complications. Approxi-mately 2% (n=4) of the population did not involve in any of the physical activities and 4% (n=8) of the population were not following any dietary changes to control their blood sugars. Conclusion: A proper updated educational program is needed to update the knowledge of both the rural community and the primary healthcare physicians on recent advances in the holistic management of diabetes mellitus.