Awareness of Diabetes Mellitus & Its Complications in Southern Part of Assam

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus prevalence is high in Indiaand is increasing every year, with strain on the economy formanagement of this disease and its complications. As the dataon the level of awareness and knowledge about diabetes isscarce, this study was done.Material and methods: It is a cross-sectional study conductedon 182 diabetic patients attending a tertiary care teachinghospital of north eastern India, over a period of two months,using questionnaire. The clinical and non-clinical data weretabulated and quantitative data expressed as percentage.Results: Among 182 diabetics, 43.96% patients knew aboutthe cause of DM, 25.27% knew polyuria as its symptom, 45%patients had an idea of blood sugar testing, 19.23% knewabout its management and 27.47% answered loss of visionas its complications. Majority patients, 58.79%, weren’tcounselled about the disease.Conclusions: Knowledge and awareness about DiabetesMellitus was poor in present study population. Hence it isimportant to extend the diabetic health programs with propercounselling in mass campaigns to improve their knowledgeand thus prevent complications.