Abstract:
Diabetes mellitus is one of the major health problems around the world. A cross-sectional type of study was conducted in urban community in Dhaka city with the aim to assess the level of knowledge about different types of complications and knowledge about control and prevention on complications of diabetes mellitus. Data were collected from 214 male and female senior citizens by face to face formal interview using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. In this study the mean age of the respondents was 62.8+3.1 years and majority of the respondents (85.0%) were married with the mean family monthly income was 27,457.0+13927.6 taka. About 56.5% of the respondents were male and 22.4% of the respondents had SSC level of education, followed by 20.1% who had bachelor degree. About 28.0% of the respondents mentioned chest pain and heart attack as the complications of diabetes on heart. More than half (55.6%) of the respondents don't know about kidney problems and 22.0% of the respondents stated that back pain and kidney failure are the complication of diabetes on the kidney. The majority (60.3%) of the respondents don't know about the problem of brain due to diabetes and more than six-tenths (65.4%) of them know about complications of diabetic foot. About 35.0% of the respondents mentioned treatment, diet control and regular exercise/walk as the control method for diabetes. The findings reveal that only a little above three-tenths of the respondents had a good level of knowledge regarding the complication of diabetes mellitus. Health education programme and behavioral change interventional programs could play a role to improve knowledge of risk population guide them to modify their lifestyle to prevent and control diabetes.
