KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF DIET CONTROLAND EXERCISE IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS TYPE-2 IN BISHA, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA.

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus type-2 (DM-T2) constitutes a major public health concern and is one of the fastest growing diseases worldwide, projected to affect 693 million adults by 2045. Devastating macrovascular complications (cardiovascular disease) and microvascular complications (diabetic kidney disease, diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy) lead to increased mortality, blindness, kidney failure and an overall decreased quality of life in individuals with diabetes. An optimum glycemic control is a key to reduce the associated complications of DM-T2 and can be achieved by assessing the knowledge and attitude of patients in the management of the diseases followed by proper counseling. Methodology: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study and was carried out on 400 diabetic patients (DM-T2) who attended diabetic center in King Abdullah Hospital, Bisha. A questionnaire was used for data collection from patients in the outpatient department after taking their prior permission. SPSS v.20 was used to analyses the data. Chi-square test was used to test the relationship between the categorical variables in the attitude and practice of diet control in patients with DM-T2 Results: Our results indicated a better understanding of the role of diet (73%) while as only about 42.5% of patients had a good knowledge about the role of exercise in the control of DM-T22. Majority of patients (61.5%) regularly visited their treating physicians and 47.5 % of patients reported doing regular exercise, 54.75% patients conrmed the regular consumption of vegetables and fruits. Amajority of patients (68.25 %) reported that they enquire from their treating physicians about the role of diet and exercise in the prevention of complication associated with DM-T2. Conclusions: Our study revealed a good level of knowledge, attitude and practices of diet control and exercise among the diabetes patients attending one diabetic center in Bisha city of Aseer region of KSA. There is a need for more such studies involving a bigger sample size of the diabetic patients from the region.