Awareness and practice regarding foot self-care among patients of known type 2 diabetes mellitus in a rural area

Abstract

is to scale up prevention, strengthen care, and enhance surveillance. 1 Efforts to prevent and treat diabetes will be important to achieve the global Sustainable Development Goal 3 target of reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by one-third by 2030. Diabetes, with a global prevalence of 8.3%, affects 387 million people around the world. 2 India with a diabetic population of around 66.8 million cases ranks second in the list of countries affected by diabetes, with China topping the list. The chronic complications of diabetes affect various organs and accounts for the majority of the morbidity and mortality. Nearly 50% of all diabetes related hospital admission is due to diabetic foot problems. 3 About 10-15% of diabetic patients develop foot ulcers at some stage in their lives. These ulcers frequently become infected, and are the common cause for lower extremity amputation. 4 The progression of diabetes and its complications are mainly due to poor awareness and practices among patients with diabetes. 5 Around 49-85% of all diabetic foot related problems are preventable if appropriate measures are taken. Foot care education has not been give importance and many ABSTRACT Background: Diabetic foot problems accounts for about nearly 50% of diabetes related hospital admission. About 49-85% of all diabetic foot related problems are preventable if appropriate measures are taken. The objective of the study was to assess the awareness and practice towards foot self-care among patients of known type 2 diabetes mellitus in a rural area. Methods: The present study was conducted among patients with type 2 diabetes, attending Non-communicable disease (NCD) clinic, Rural Health Training Centre (RHTC), Sri Ramachandra University (SRU), Tamil Nadu, India. 31 participants gave written consent for their participation and they were interviewed using a questionnaire. Data entry and analysis was done using statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 16 version software. Results: Mean age of participant was 54.5years. Regarding awareness, 64.5% were unaware that they need to give special attention to foot care, 77.4% were unaware that smoking causes poor circulation affecting the feet. Poor foot practices are; 67.7% do not check inside of footwear for objects before putting them on and 74.2% walk barefoot and 54.8% did not cut their toenails properly. Conclusions: Foot self-care awareness and practices among patients with diabetes were found to be poor. This implies an urgent need for health educating the patients which may prevent disability and reduce medical expenditure in long run.