"Perceived stress" and its associated factors among diabetic patients receiving care from a rural tertiary health care center in South India.

BACKGROUND

"Stress" acts as both etiological link and also as an outcome in the case of diabetes mellitus. There is a paucity of literature regarding stress levels and also factors associated with it among diabetic patients in India.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the perceived stress levels and their associated factors among diabetic inpatients in a rural tertiary health care center, South India.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A facility-based cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among inpatient diabetics seeking care at a rural tertiary care center in Kolar district of Karnataka. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to capture the sociodemographic, disease-related, treatment-related and behavior-related characteristics of the inpatients. The outcome of "perceived stress" was captured using a standard questionnaire of Cohen Perceived Stress Scale-10. Poisson regression was used for multivariable analysis, and the association was expressed as prevalence ratio with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS

Out of the 247 study participants analysed, "perceived stress" was seen among 97 (39.3%) of the participants (95% CI: 33.3%-45.5%). Multivariable analysis showed that factors like younger age, lesser duration of diabetes, presence of any comorbidity, being underweight, having conflicts at work place/home in the last 1 month, and not having enough money for treatment had shown higher levels of "perceived stress."

CONCLUSION

About two out of five inpatient diabetics seeking care from rural tertiary health centres had shown to have "perceived stress." There is a need for the inclusion of stress management techniques in the diabetes education program at all levels of health-care systems.