Awareness, knowledge and attitudes on diabetes mellitus of Sri Lankan patient population attending a Colombo suburb Hospital. — ASN Events

Awareness, knowledge and attitudes on diabetes mellitus of Sri Lankan patient population attending a Colombo suburb Hospital. (#304)

Waranga Jayawickrama 1 , Kaushalya Perera 1
  1. Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine, Malabe, Sri Lanka

Introduction

Prevalence of diabetes is increasing in urban Sri Lanka. Patient's awareness is the key for reducing diabetes morbidity and mortality. No information on patient's knowledge is recorded for Sri Lanka where a comparably high literacy level is recorded.

  

Objective:

Evaluate knowledge on diabetes mellitus in an urban Sri Lankan patient population

 

Method:

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using a set up questionnaire to determine the percentage knowledge score.

Results:

The response rate was 100 % with 76 females (58.01%) and 56 (42.75%) males. Mean age was 57.56 years, while the age range was 28- 86. The mean diabetic duration was 10.57 years (SD 8.15) and only 17 had prior health education. 45.1% had advanced level and above literacy.

The mean percentage knowledge was 37.7% with a minimum 5.3 % and maximum 73.7 %. The knowledge level of the majority (48.82 %) was ‘poor’ while 28.3 % ‘very poor’ and only 22.88 % was ‘good’.

Knowledge of diagnosis showed that majority was ‘poor’ (17.5 %) or ‘very poor’ (46.6 %). Treatment scores indicated ‘poor’ (64.2&), ‘very poor’ (23.8%) and ‘good’ (7%). Complication scores showed good’ (37.4%), ‘very good’ (16.80%) while total of 45.8 % were ‘very poor’ or ‘poor’. Prevention and prognosis gained ‘good’ (35.2 %), ‘very good’ (11. 5%) while 53.35 % were ‘very poor’ or ‘poor’.

The study failed to establish statistically significant relationships between knowledge with; gender (P = 0.33), literacy level (p = 0.445) , duration of diabetes ( P = 0.061) or past diabetes education ( P = 0.437).

 

Conclusion:

Awareness and knowledge of diabetes mellitus is significantly inadequate among patient of Colombo suburbs, a region with country’s highest diabetes prevalence and good health care facilities. Urgent attention and action plans are needed for sustainable reduction in future diabetes burden in Sri Lanka.

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  2. Katulanda P, Constantine GR, Mahesh JG, Sheriff R, Seneviratne RDA, et al. Prevalence and projections of diabetes and pre-diabetes in adults in Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka Diabetes, Cardiovascular Study (SLDCS). Diabetes UK 2008; 25: 1062-69.
  3. Deepa Mohan, Deepa Raj, Shanthirani CS, Manjula Datta, Unvin NC, Kapur A, Mohan V. Awareness and knowledge of diabetes in Chennai- The Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES 9). Journal of Associations of Physician of India 2005; 53: 283- 287.
  4. Farooq Mohyud Din Chaudhary, Sadia Mohyud Din Chaudhary. Awareness about diabetes risk factors and complications in diabetes patients: A cross sectional study. Nishtar Medical Journal 2010; 2(3): 84-88.
  5. American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes- 2015. Diabetes care 2015; 38(1):S1-92.
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