The Foot Care Process of Diabetic Patients (With and Without Foot Ulcer)Attending A Tertiary Care Hospital in India

Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) foot complications are a leading cause of morbidity in developing countries and prevalence of diabetes is expected to increase in the next decades in these countries. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge about diabetic foot care among diabetic patients (with and without foot ulcer i.e. DFU+VE and DFU-VE) attending tertiary care hospitals (SGPGIMS, Lucknow) in India. This is a comparative study carried out from July 2013 to June 2014 based on questionnaires. The knowledge and practice scores, hypoglycaemia and diet score, and insulin administration and exercise score were classified as good if score ≥ 70%, satisfactory if score was 50- 69% and poor if score was < 50%. Among DFU+VE patients (200), 47.7% had good knowledge of foot care versus 52.3% had poor knowledge about foot care, 66.5% had good knowledge to treat hypoglycemia at home; 48.53% had good knowledge of insulin administration. In DFU-VE patients (200), 52% had good knowledge versus 48% had poor knowledge about foot care; 64.5% had good knowledge to treat hypoglycemia at home; 36.93% had good knowledge of insulin administration. Illiteracy and low socioeconomic status were significantly associated with poor knowledge and practice of foot care, hypoglycaemia and diet, and insulin administration and exercise in DFU+VE cases. This study has highlighted the deficiency of the knowledge of foot care among the DFU+VE and DFU-VE patients, underscores the need for an educational programme to reduce the diabetic foot complication.