Background: Diabetes Mellitus currently is expected to affect 642 million people by the year 2040. There are 69.1 million adults with diabetes in India at present. Diabetes has thus become a great economic challenge as it drains between 5 – 25 % of the family income of an average Indian. Most of the diagnosed cases have poor glycemic control due to lack of awareness. Assessing the level of awareness is of utmost importance as increased awareness is the key to prevention of the disease and its complications.

Methods: Questionnaire based cross sectional study was conducted at General Medicine outpatient department. Newly diagnosed and known cases of diabetes for 5 years who were within the age group of 20 years to 80 years were included. 24-item Diabetes Knowledge Questionnaire (DKQ-24) from the Starr County Texas diabetes education study was used for this study.

Results: A total of 201 patients were included in the study. Knowledge scores were categorized into three levels indicated by poor, moderate and good level of knowledge. 32% had good knowledge, 45% had moderate knowledge and 23% had poor knowledge about diabetes. In this study we found that age of the patient, duration of diabetes, educational status and occupational status significantly influence the awareness levels.

Conclusion: Awareness of diabetes plays an important role in the diagnosis and control of the disease. In our study we were able to identify certain areas where lack of knowledge was critical. The findings could be used in an integrated programme to improve patient self-management.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Diabetes knowledge questionnaire, Disease status, Knowledge.

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Dr Swetha Devi Geddam

Post Graduate, Dept of General Medicine, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry, India