Consciousness Level and Disease Awareness among Patients with Diabetese

Abstract

Objective: Diabetes mellitus is an important health issue with its increasing incidence, prevalence, complications, and accompanying economic burden. Prevention of this problem is only possible with an enhancement of knowledge and awareness of this disease. In this study, we aimed to point out the awareness and conception of this disease in patients with diabetes. Methods:Eighty-seven patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus aged above 30 years and who had been tested for their blood glucose and HbA1c levels during the last 3 months in the internal medicine outpatient clinic were included in the study. Questions, including sociodemographic description, were asked and a 5-step questionnaire was applied to patients regarding diabetes, and their answers were classified and evaluated.Results: Most of the patients had low educational level, diabetes duration of more than 5 years, and accompanying diseases. Although the patients generally had HbA1c levels above ideal levels, very small percentage of the patients were receiving insulin therapy; they mostly used oral antidiabetics, despite their diabetes being unregulated. When the answers of the questionnaire were evaluated, it was found that the knowledge and awareness of the disease was not sufficient. Thus, patients mostly had complications and accompanying diseases. Conclusion:Patient education aims to deal with diseases, to keep the disease under control, to make patients follow diet, physical exercise, and medical therapy, to regularly control lifestyle, and to develop the feeling of responsibility. Right precision of the disease and sufficient knowledge is essential for the management of diabetes. Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, consciousness level of the disease, awareness IntroductionDiabetes mellitus has become a major health problem with its prevalence increasing every day. Along with the rapid change in lifestyle worldwide, especially in developed countries, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is rapidly increasing. While the number of people suffering from diabetes worldwide by the end of 2009 was 285 million, this number is expected to reach 438 million in 2030 (1-3). According to the 2009 data of the study in Turkey, the prevalence of diabetes over the age of 35 years was found to be 11.3%, and it was calculated to correspond to 3.3 million people (4). In the same study, the increasing rate of diabetes was 6.7%, which corresponded to 350,000 new diabetes patients in a year (4). The main reason for this increase is the growing population, aging, changes in lifestyle brought about by urbanization, unhealthy nutrition, abnormal weight gain, and physical inactivity (5).Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects many organs and systems. It shortens the life expectancy by 5-10 years, disrupts the quality of life, and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease by 2-4 times. The risk of death in diabetic patients due to all causes is 2-times higher than that in healthy individuals. Diabetes and its complications constitute a growing economic burden to individuals and...

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