Prevalence of diabetic comorbidities and knowledge and practices of foot care among diabetic patients: a cross-sectional study

• Main Authors: Abdulghani HM, AlRajeh AS, AlSalman BH, AlTurki LS, AlNajashi NS, Irshad M, Alharbi KH, AlBalawi YE, AlSuliman YA, Ahmad T
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2018
• Subjects: Diabetic mellitus; comorbid complication; foot care; Saudi Arabia; Specialties of internal medicine; RC581-951; sami
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/8619f068b3614ec98b8842c8e3a9a6b9

Hamza Mohammad Abdulghani,1 Areej Salman AlRajeh,2 Budoor Hussain AlSalman,2 Lulwah Sami AlTurki,2 Norah Sulaiman AlNajashi,2 Mohammad Irshad,2 Khalid Hamad Alharbi,3 Yazeed Eid AlBalawi,3 Yazeed A AlSuliman,3 Tauseef Ahmad2 1Department of Medical Education, College of Medicine, King Saud University, 2College of Medicine, King Saud University, 3King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Background: Diabetes mellitus with comorbid complications constitute a major public health problem worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of comorbid complications with glycosylated hemoglobin levels and diabetes duration. Also assessed were patients’ diabetic foot-care knowledge and practices. Patients and methods: This was a quasiexperimental study. A total of 360 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were interviewed at a government health care center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Diabetic complications and HbA1c-level data were collected from hospital records. A standard questionnaire was used to assess their diabetic foot-care knowledge and practice. Results: Of the type 2 diabetes mellitus patients, 32.5% had highly uncontrolled glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels (≥8.6%) and 62.8% had had diabetes >10 years. The patients had comorbid complications, such as hypertension (61.4%), dyslipidemia (58.6%), retinopathy (23.3%), heart disease (14.4%), and severe foot complications (3.9%). The majority of highly uncontrolled HbA1c-level patients had retinopathy (OR 8.90, P=0.0001), foot complications (OR 8.09, P=0.0001), dyslipidemia (OR 2.81, P=0.010), and hypertension (OR 2.0, P=0.028) compared to the controlled HbA1c-level (<7%) group. Patients with diabetes >10 years also had higher prevalence of foot complications (OR 2.92, P=0.0001), retinopathy (OR 2.17, P=0.011), and hypertension (OR 1.67, P=0.033). From patient responses, physicians examined only 34.2% of patient feet and 36.7% of patients received physicians advice for foot care. About 70% of patients had knowledge of ...