Publication:

Non-adherence to foot-care activities and its associated factors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in an urban area of South India: a cross sectional study

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the commonest metabolic disorder with prevalence of 8.3% in India. The prognosis largely depends on complications seen in natural course of illness. Stringent adherence to self-care activities is a mandatory step in management of T2DM. Hence, this study was done to assess non-adherence to foot-care activities among patients with T2DM for associated factors and also to report findings of foot examination among non-adherent participants.

Methods A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban area of Bengaluru. Using multi-stage sampling, 400 people with T2DM aged ≥18 years were selected. A pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information regarding non-adherence to foot-care activities and foot examination was done for all the participants.

Results Though all the participants were aware regarding the foot-care activities, 86.7% of participants were not adherent. Females and those with lower monthly income had 2.91 and 3.47 significantly higher odds of being non-adherent to foot-care activities, respectively.

Conclusions The prevalence of non-adherence to foot-care activities among people with T2DM was observed to be high. Hence, more importance should be given to motivate people with T2DM in their follow-up visits regarding adherence to foot-care activities to avoid occurrence of complications.