An Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) towards Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetic Retinopathy among Patients of Nishter Medical University Hospital Multan, South-Punjab Pakistan

Abstract

Objective:

This study aimed to determine the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) towards diabetes mellitus and diabetic retinopathy among the patients of a tertiary care hospital.

Study design

This study was an observational, cross-sectional study.

Place and duration of study

The current study was conducted at department of General Medicine, Nishtar Medical University Hospital Multan, Pakistan. The time span of the study was from March 2016 to February 2017.

Method

After taking approval from Ethical Review Committee, a questionnaire based descriptive study was conducted on 692 patients.  The technique of convenient sampling was used. All the gathered data were retrieved into MS Excel. The data were analyzed by using computer program SPSS 21 version.

Results:

Six hundred ninety two adults were interviewed. Of these, 271 (39.2%) were suffering from diabetes mellitus. Lowest mean knowledge score (5.28 ± 6.09) was seen in illiterate study population. Male’s Mean Knowledge score (5.61 ± 5.56) was better than female’s (4.46 ± 5.21). Over all mean score of Attitudes towards diabetes was 4.43 ± 2.37. It was higher (6.62 ± 2.03) in diabetic respondents as compared with non-diabetic respondents (4.70 ± 2.59) with p < 0.000. In Practice module majority of the respondents (69.9%) did not exercise, 49% took high caloric snacks between meals and 87% ate outside home once a month, 56.8% diabetics visited ophthalmologist for routine eye examination; but only 9.2% asked for retinal examination.

Conclusion

Poor knowledge of diabetes was found in the community. The problem was more marked in females, illiterate and the individuals not having diabetes mellitus.

Key Words: Diabetes mellitus, Diabetic retinopathy, Diabetic Education Program, Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP)