Knowledge of diabetic patients about diabetes at the primary stage in Eskisehir, Turkey

ABSTRACT

To define the demographic characteristics of diabetes patients receiving care at the primary stage to establish the number of diabetics with complications. Patients who were referred to Eskisehir central village clinics in Turkey were included in the study. A survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews. Four hundred ninety five diabetic patients were referred to the polyclinic within the study period. Majority of the patients had a positive family history, hypertension and obesity. Only 14.5% of the patients were able to check their plasma glucose levels by themselves. None of the patients had HbA1c level results in their follow-up files. In addition, they were unaware of what HbA1c signifies or what it entails. 21.9% of the diabetics developed a complication. Increases in age, positive family history, long duration of diabetes were responsible for the presence of complications. Though the diabetics were attentive to their own controls but very few were able to check their blood sugar levels by themselves at home. Education of diabetics is extremely important to achieve desired blood glucose levels thus ensuring good control and prevent complications