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.