Résumé
Diabetes mellitus is a prevalent endocrinal disorder in Saudi Arabia. Diabetic foot ulceration occurs in about one fifth of diabetics, and significantly increases the risk of gangrene and amputation. Early and proper foot care is essential to prevent such deleterious complication
Objectives: the aim of this review is to study the knowledge and attitude about foot care among diabetics in Saudi Arabia and its impact on prevention of amputation
Methods: to achieve this aim, online database was searched for articles reporting knowledge and/or attitude of Saudi patients about foot care. Results yielded from this search were quickly inspected; the titles and abstract were quickly read to select related studies
Results: up to one fifth of diabetic patients had poor knowledge about their foot care, and in spite of regular checkups, they lacked awareness of signs and symptoms of diabetic foot infection. However, when educational programs were implemented, complications rate has significantly declined
Discussion: previous literature studies indicated that Saudi diabetic patients had moderate to poor knowledge about their illness in general. Most of them are not adequately educated about the complications of their illness, and how to deal with them. However, when engaged in systematic educational programs, they were highly responsive and compliant and their new adopted attitude and knowledge about the illness decreased their amputation as well as other complications rate