Key result
Higher education and occupation are linked to fewer misconceptions about diabetes, with ~46% showing low levels.
Cross-Sectional (n=200)
No
In a South Kerala diabetic clinic, patients generally had low levels of misconceptions about diabetes, which was inversely correlated with education and occupation.
Background: Inadequate knowledge and misconceptions present significant barriers for effective management of Diabetes Mellitus (DM).It is important for physicians to understand the misconceptions among patients in order to improve patient care.As diabetes has emerged as a modern epidemic in India, understanding these patient beliefs can have an overall impact on general health.Objectives: 1) To determine the frequency and distribution of misconceptions about DM among diabetic patients.2) To determine the association between the misconceptions and socio-demographic factors.Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 diabetic patients attending a diabetic clinic of a tertiary care hospital in South Kerala during a period of 2 months.A 25-item questionnaire was given to each of the participants.Misconception score was calculated and interpreted as very low (score<30), low (31-40), moderate (41-50), high (51-60) and very high (>60).Data was analysed using SPSS V.20 (IBM).Chi square test was used to find the association of socio-demographic variables with the five categories of misconception scores.Rank correlations were also derived.Results: 101 (50.5%) study subjects belonged to 61 to 80 year age group.Only one individual (0.5%) exhibited very high level of misconceptions.91 individuals (45.5%) had low level of misconceptions regarding DM.Commonest misconceptions were that bitter food can cure DM and oral hypoglycemic drugs contain insulin.Significant associations were found between misconception score and place of residence (p=0.034),time since diagnosis (p=0.008), and awareness regarding the disease (p<0.0001).Education and occupation inversely affected the score of misconception (r = -0.49and r = -0.38 respectively).Conclusion: Misconceptions regarding diabetes was low in the study population which could be attributed to high level of education and good occupation.Rural population had significantly higher level of misconceptions.
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Tharyan et al. (2016) conducted a cross-sectional in Diabetes Mellitus (n=200). Socio-demographic factors was evaluated on Misconception score. Misconceptions about diabetes were generally low (45.5% had low levels) and were inversely correlated with education (r=-0.49) and occupation (r=-0.38).
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