Assessment through KAP among Diabetic Patients at Hyderabad Sindh

Abstract

Diabetes is one of chronic problem all around the globe. Discrepancies and misconceptions are very frequent and serious issues, generally occurs in health care system and specially in case of chronic conditions management process like DM, and it has been reported to be another major problem that drawback treatment outcomes and through its big burden over patients as well as the whole health care system, disturbing prescribing pattern and driving away from the recommended diabetic regimen guidelines. A total of 240 patients were recruited from different clinics of Hyderabad for this study, and a specially designed KAP questionnaire was used to collect required data and information about diabetic patients regarding disease, complications and its management. It has been found that males represented highest portion of recruited sample with 142(59%) case while females were accounted for the rest 98(41%) case, the vast majority of patients were from urban areas with 164(68%) case, in compare to76(32%) from rural areas. Based on age distribution most of diabetic patient lied in 40-49 years age group i.e. 102(42.5%) followed by 30-39 years i.e. 48(20%), 50-59 years i.e. 44.01(18.34%), 60-69 years i.e. 36(15%), 70-79 years i.e. 9.98(4.16%). Regarding patients history it has been revealed that almost 70% [162(67.5%)] of patients had a positive family history for diabetes.82(34.16%) patients were illiterate, 116(48.34%) were primary pass, 42(17.5%) were secondary pass. About40% (39.16%) of patients were suffering from diabetes for less than 5 years.Overweight and obese patients represented respectively 32.5% and 23.34% of the collected sample, and 52.5% of the patients were smokers. In respect of complications associated with DM it has been found that, about 30% of patients were suffering from primary hypertension. Furthermore, when blood glucose level were tested it has been found that only 45.83% of patients were in normal ranges from 126-200mg/dL, and the rest of patients were fluctuating between hyper and hypoglycemia. Regarding treatment regimens it was clear that most of patients were on combination therapies with.64.1%. Furthermore, when knowledge of the patients were tested it has been observed that only 35% of patients understood the term diabetes, 74.17% of them did not even know the normal values of blood glucose level, and65.83% did not know any of the symptoms of the disease patients. However, it has been spotted that only 18.33% of patients knew about the disease associated complications. Investigations concerning life style of the patients revealed that 68.33% of them do not regularly exercise even though they have some free time for it, and 61.67% of the patients were not following any specific diet plan, and unfortunately 75.83% of patients do not monitor their glucose level or even check their glycemic stat on regular bases. To conclude, it is crystal clear that proper medication counseling is essential in any health care system, it plays a vital role in management of chronic conditions like diabetes mellitus. Medication counseling may also help to avoid many undesirable side effect, prevent serious health related events, slow down or even stop the deterioration in health condition of the patients, and reduce mortality rate in society and help to reach the optimum goals of any treatment plan.