Knowledge of type 2 diabetic patients about their illness: pilot project

To evaluate the baseline level of knowledge and awareness of diabetic patients about their disease and it's complications.

It was a Cross Sectional Survey conducted at Foundation Clinic, Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad, in April 2004. A structured questionnaire was used. Forty diabetic patients were interviewed to know their knowledge attitude and practices about diabetes. All data was entered into SPSS version 10.0. The data was re-validated and analyzed.

Mean age of study participants was 45.35 +/- 13.05 years, 11(27.5%) were male and 29(72.5%) were female. The mean BMI of the study participants was 27.06 +/- 6.29 kg/m2. Majority of the patients 27(67.5%) had type 2 diabetes. The mean fasting blood sugar was 159 +/- 73.89 mg/dl and random blood sugar was 200 +/- 91.2 mg/dl, 50% of the patients were using antidiabetic drugs regularly and only 15% of the patients were regularly monitoring their blood glucose at home using a glucometer. Awareness level of the study participants was low.

The awareness about the disease in majority of diabetic patients was not adequate in this study. Routine individual teaching and counseling represents an effective educational model.