Knowledge of diabetes, its treatment and complications amongst diabetic patients in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

At present, India is considered as the diabetic capital of the world. There are approximately 3.5 crore diabetics in India, and this figure is expected to increase up to 5.2 crore by 2025. Every fifth patient visiting a consulting physician is a diabetic and every seventh patient visiting a family physician is a diabetic. Keeping in view the alarming increase in the incidence and prevalence of diabetics in India, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared India as the ‘Diabetic Capital’ of the world.(1) Studies have shown that increasing patient knowledge regarding disease and its complications has significant benefits with regard to patient compliance to treatment and to decreasing complications associated with the disease.(2) Considering this, we sought to quantify in a population of diabetics visiting our clinic, the level of knowledge with respect to different areas pertaining to the prevention and treatment of associated complications.