Objective: To determine the various misconceptions in diabetes mellitus and the factors leading to such misconceptions. To find out the association of various misconceptions with the socio-demographic factors.
Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 350 diabetic patients for a period of 6 mo. The study was done in diabetic clinics in the districts of Salem and Erode.
Results: The study included a total of 350 patients, among which 206 (58.86%) were females and 144 (41.14%) were males. The majority of the study population was between the age group 61-70 (30.86%). The total misconception scores were low (0-34) in 144 (41.14%), moderate (35-69) in 180 (51.43%) and high (70-104) in 26 (7.43%). Out of 25 patients identified with hypoglycemia 2 patients (8%) had only drug-drug interaction. 10 patients (40%) with both DI and HDI were identified. Herb-drug interactions alone were identified in 13 diabetic patients with hypoglycemia (52%) indicating the risk of hypoglycemia with concurrent use of herbs along with diabetic medications.
Conclusion: In this study carried out in a study population of 350 patients, the majority of the population, which contributes to about 94% had high to moderate knowledge about their condition of diabetes mellitus. The misconceptions about diabetes mellitus were high in 6.57% of the study population.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.