Awareness of Self-care and Complications in Diabetic Patients in Rural Maharashtra: Community-based Study

Background: Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose, which leads over time to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. Diabetes requires a multipronged approach for its management, and the patient has an important role to play. They are required to follow many self-care practices to achieve optimal glycemic control and prevent complications. The self-care practices include regular physical activity, appropriate dietary practices, daily foot care practice, compliance with treatment regimen, and tackling complications such as hypoglycemic episodes. Objectives: (1) To assess awareness about self-care practices in known diabetic patients. (2) To evaluate the knowledge about complications among known diabetic patients. Methodology: Community-based, cross-sectional study among patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in the field practice area of Medical College in Maharashtra. 200 participants were interviewed about their knowledge about self-care needed for diabetes, complications, etc., using a pretested questionnaire. Results: Among the total 200 participants, only 84 (42%) were aware about self-care in diabetes, whereas 116 (58%) were unaware about self-care. In our study, educated participants were aware of self-care than the less educated participants, and it was statistically significant. It was found that 24.5% participants avoided sugar, 12.5% participants started eating vegetables after diagnosis of diabetes, whereas 63% participants have not made any changes in their diet. It was observed that 86 (43%) participants were aware about the diabetic complications, whereas 114 (57%) participants were unaware about complications that can occur due to diabetes. Conclusion: The level of self-care activities among diabetic patients was quite low in spite of many years of diabetic status in the study. There is a need for ongoing self-management education programs for patients as well as their caregivers for better management and sugar control.