Awareness of foot care among patients with diabetes attending a tertiary care hospital.

Background: The prevalence of diabetes in India is rising. It is also occurring at a younger age. Ulcers on the foot in patients with diabetes are a common cause of amputations and are largely preventable. We assessed the awareness of foot care among patients with diabetes attending a tertiary care hospital in northern India and whether this varied with the level of healthcare availed, i.e. primary, secondary or tertiary.

Methods: A scored questionnaire was designed based on foot care practices advised by the American Diabetes Association as part of the national diabetes education programme. It was administered to 400 patients and a total foot care score was calculated and correlated with various variables.

Results: Only 50 of 400 patients (12.5%) had received previous foot care advice from healthcare professionals, and 193 (48.2%), 28 (7%) and 179 (44.8 %) patients were being taken care of by primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare systems, respectively. Almost one-quarter of patients were uneducated. The mean foot care score in all three groups was 5 of a maximum of 14, which was poor.

Conclusion: The awareness of foot care among people with diabetes is low among those attending all levels of healthcare: primary, secondary and tertiary. It is necessary to educate people about foot care, lack of which will lead to a huge financial and health burden due to preventable complications of diabetes.