Knowledge, Attitude And Practice Of Diabetes Mellitus; A Comparative Study Between Malaysian And The United Arab Emirates Patients
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Date
2010-04
Authors
Mahdi, Hala Jehad
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Diabetes mellitus is an emerging health problem worldwide, the prevalence varies widely in different regions around the world. It is well known that good diabetes education is a cornerstone of diabetes control. Some studies of different health education programs in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have shown that diabetics in these countries generally know less about the disease and its management than diabetics in other countries. The main objective of this study is to determine the differences in the levels of the knowledge, attitudes, and the practice (KAP) of diabetic patients and also the impact (glycemic control) at endocrine outpatient clinic and diabetes center, between Malaysia and the UAE. A comparative prospective study was conducted from September 2006 to June 2008. Two hundreds and two outpatients of Diabetic Clinic from Penang Hospital of Malaysia and 201 patients from Endocrine Outpatient's Clinic, Diabetic Center of Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu-Dhabi (UAE) participated in this study. Patients who fulfilling the desired criteria were interviewed individually and voluntarily filled a validated questionnaire about their knowledge of diabetes, their attitudes toward the disease, and their disease management practices. Data on the
demographic characteristics, medical history, latest blood tests and urine analyses, and current drug therapies were collected in a specific data collection form. Multiple logistic regressions were used to compare the proportional differences between these two groups based on statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 12.0. Chi-square test, ANOVA post hoc, and independent t-test were used to compare the means of KAP, HbA1c, and fasting blood sugar concentrations between the two groups. This study shows Malaysian diabetic respondents has significantly better KAP than the UAE respondents with mean scores of knowledge, attitude and practice were (25.6 ±3.34 vs. 20.26 ±2.96), (4.29±1.17 vs. 2.90 ±0.086) and (4.25 ±1.33 vs. 4.1 ±0.99) respectively (P <0.001). This study also reveals differences in the social characteristics, risk factors, frequency of attendance at the diabetes education class and the sources of information between Malaysian and the UAE patients. Achieving better diabetes control, and reducing the prevalence of the disease, it is suggested that Malaysian people and the UAE may benefit from the experiences of the each other and from other countries with specific health education programs. Attitudes and practices of patients are also important beside their knowledge, as knowledge alone cannot affect glycemic control a lot, or cannot significantly prevents the incidence of complications.
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Keywords
Diabetes mellitus is an emerging health problem , in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates