Prevalence and Factors Influencing Diabesity and Diabetes Self-Care Practices among Persons with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Living in Rural Area of Tiruvallur District – A Cross Sectional Study

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition which requires good self-care and continuous monitoring. Diabesity is a term used for clinical association of diabetes with obesity, a subgroup of syndrome X/Metabolic syndrome Objectives: 1. To estimate the proportion of people with obesity and assess various associated factors. 2.To assess the self-care practises among people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Material and methods: A Community based cross sectional study was conducted among 251 adults (>18 years) in 3 villages (selected randomly out of 8 villages) under the Rural field practise area of Nayapakkam. Subjects were interviewed by a validated questionnaire after obtaining consent. Questionnaire consists of Sociodemographic profile, Detailed Diet analysis, Comorbidity profile and “Summary Diabetes Selfcare Activities (SDSCA)”. Results: The prevalence of diabesity was 63.1% (diabetics with BMI >25), of which 26.7% had abdominal obesity. Among 251 diabetics, 47.8% followed healthy eating habits for at least 3 to 5 days a week. 48.2% had been doing moderate physical activity for at least 2 days a week. Around 44.6% had checked their blood sugar once at least in past 3 months. Almost 66.8% of them maintained foot care for at least 2 days a week. Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity among diabetics was high among the study participants. The self-care practises among diabetics was quite poor which needs to be focussed.