Knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding diabetic foot care among Saudi and non-Saudi diabetic patients in Alkharj.

CONTEXT

There is a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Saudi Arabia. Also, the diabetic foot complication rate is alarmingly high with many patients ending in amputation.

AIMS

To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding diabetic foot care among Saudi and non-Saudi diabetic patients in Alkharj.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

It is a cross-sectional study conducted from May 22, 2019 to April 1, 2020 at Diabetic clinic, Military Hospital in Alkharj.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Non-randomized, non-probability convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from 224 patients by using a validated and confidential questionnaire in either face-to-face interviews or as an electronic survey. All adult patients over 18 years of age of both sexes having type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus were included. The patients who were unable to provide the requested information were excluded.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

The data were analyzed using SPSS version 24.

RESULTS

The mean age of patients was 49.37 years with 58.5% male and 41.5% female patients. About 58% of patients had diabetes for more than 10 years. More than half of the patients reported some foot problems, while 9.4% have had active or healed ulcerations. The mean scores for knowledge, attitude, and practice were 8.576, 4, and 13, respectively, all statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study population has sufficient knowledge about diabetes and its foot complication, and they also had a positive attitude towards its management. However, they were lagging in the practices required for diabetic foot management.