Self-care practice among the diabetic patients in urban area of north Karnataka: A cross sectional study

Abstract

Diabetes is grouped into the category of disease (lifestyle diseases) where lifestyle plays an important factor. A good self care activities among the diabetes affected patients, the disease can be well controlled and managed. These are healthy eating, being physically active, monitoring of blood sugar, adherence with medications, foot care and smoking etc.: To determine the self-care practice among the diabetic patients in the urban area of North Karnataka and to assess their socio-demographic risk factors.: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the diabetic patients in urban field practice area of North Karnataka. House to house survey was conducted and data was collected by using pre-designed pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire by interview method. Data is presented in proportion and analysed using MS-Excel 2007 and SPSS v 22. Chi-square test & OR were applied & p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. : Diabetes self-care activities undertaken by the study population showed that three fourth (75.76%) of the patients were not adherent to the diet. Adequate self-care activities in form of exercise were seen in only (24.24%), foot care (25.45%), blood glucose monitoring 139 (84.24%), medication (72.73%) and (93.94%) did not smoke.: Self-care activities with respect to diet and exercise were poor in the population studied.