Awareness of long-term foot complications in people living with diabetes mellitus in Mauritius: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION

Mauritius has a high disease burden of diabetes mellitus and ranked twelfth globally according to the International Diabetes Federation. According to the non-communicable disease survey 2021, it was found that 19.9 % of the Mauritian population suffers from Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The long-term diabetic foot complications contribute to premature mortality and increased morbidity. Proper knowledge of diabetic foot complications and good foot care practices may help mitigate the long-term burden of diabetic foot complications in Mauritius in particular and Africa in general. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the awareness of long-term diabetic foot complications and practice of proper foot care among people living with DM in Mauritius.

METHODS

a cross-sectional study was conducted among people living with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) attending Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) clinics at Dr. Abdool Gaffoor Jeetoo Hospital (regional hospital), Mauritius and its nearby primary healthcare centers, which serve a majority of the urban and semi-urban population.

RESULTS

the study showed good knowledge about diabetic foot complications and average foot care practicing among the participants. A significant positive correlation between knowledge and practice scores (r = 0.477, p < 0.05) was found, indicating that increased knowledge was associated with better foot care practices. There was a significant negative association between practice score and glycaemic control (r= -0.311 p< 0.001) as well as a negative association between knowledge score and HbA1c. (r=-0.226, p<0.001). It can be deduced that people living with DM with controlled HbA1c had better knowledge about diabetic foot complications and practiced good foot care. The work status of a patient with DM had a significantly better coefficient on knowledge score OR 7.534 [1.392-40.779]. This was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). This implies that as the work status of people living with diabetes mellitus improves, the person is 7.534 times more likely to have improved knowledge of diabetic foot complications.

CONCLUSION

despite having good knowledge on long-term diabetic foot complications, the participants did not practice proper foot care, which could be a result of a lack of education on foot care among people living with DM or a lack of motivation from healthcare professionals, relatives and friends.