What we can say: disease illiteracy.

Area of Science:

• Internal Medicine
• Public Health
• Patient Education

Background:

• Chronic diseases pose a significant global health burden.
• Effective management requires patient understanding of disease, treatment compliance, and lifestyle precautions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess awareness, attitude, and behavior regarding disease nature, medication compliance, and precautions among chronic disease patients.
• To identify knowledge gaps in patients attending follow-up appointments.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving patients with diagnosed chronic diseases (CAD, hypertension, diabetes, COPD, CVA).
• Data collected via questionnaires on disease awareness, medication adherence, and lifestyle precautions.
• Study conducted over six months in a medical outdoor setting.

Main Results:

• Significant lack of awareness observed across conditions: 42.8% of CAD patients unaware of heart disease, 31% of hypertensive patients unaware of hypertension, 20.6% of COPD patients aware of COPD.
• Low medication compliance noted: 44% for CAD, 35.8% for hypertension, 52.7% for diabetes, 34.7% for CVA.
• Poor adherence to precautions: only 47.6% of hypertensive patients avoided salt, 17.2% of COPD patients remembered no-smoking advice.

Conclusions:

• Majority of chronic disease patients exhibit ignorance regarding their condition, medication compliance, and necessary precautions.
• Coronary artery disease patients showed the highest levels of ignorance.
• There is a critical need for enhanced patient education programs to improve chronic disease self-management.