Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Patients with Diabetes towards Diabetic Nephropathy, Neuropathy and Retinopathy

• DOI: 10.18549/pharmpract.2022.1.2608
• Publication Date: 2022-03-29T15:28:43Z
• Authors: Nada Dia; Sara Ferekh; Stephanie Jabbour; Zeina Akiki; Mohamad Rahal; Maya Khoury; Marwan Akel
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Original Research; 3. Good health

Epidemiological and knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) studies about diabetic microvascular complications are lacking. The goals of this study are: determining 1) the prevalence of diabetes mellitus subtypes and microvascular complications, 2) the KAP towards the complications and 3) health-seeking behavior, barriers to follow-up, stigma and sources of information.A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to October 2020 enrolling 380 Lebanese patients with diabetes asked about socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics, medical, therapeutic, supplement, and dietary history, KAP scores, health-seeking behavior, stigma, barriers to compliance, and sources of information.The prevalence of diabetes type II, type I, gestational, and the microvascular complications was 82.23%, 15.65%, 2.12%, and 33.07% respectively. Factors with significant association were: 1) good quality of life (β=-0.03; p=0.005) and presence of microvascular complications (β=3.58; p=0.001) with knowledge score, 2) good quality of life (β=-0.01; p=0.02) and absence of the complications (β=-0.33; p=0.001) with attitude score, 3) advanced age (β=0.01; p=0.01), no metformin (β=-0.39; p=0.005), and low-protein diet (β=0.6; p=0.02) with practice score. Patients visited community pharmacies (41.84%) and clinics (46.32%). Barriers were costs (33.42%) and time (30.53%). Few talked about the complications to the family (19.74%). Sources of information were healthcare workers.Awareness campaigns should be tailored accordingly to retard the microvascular complications.