Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Therapeutic education of diabetic patients is an integral part of management care of the disease and a permanent way to empower patients and to promote their self-care. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the knowledge of diabetic patients about their disease.

Patients and methods: This prospective study has been conducted during 9 months and included 312 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) diagnosed at least 3 months ago. All patients were followed in third care consultation without history of structured education program. Clinical and biological data in addition to an Individual Knowledge Scale (SKILLD). A value above 50% reflects a good level of knowledge.

Results: The mean age was 54-year-old and 61% of patients were females. The average of T2DM history was of 11 years with a mean HbA1c of 9.35±1.85%. Symptoms of hypoglycaemia were known by 58% of patients, but its immediate management was only known by 41% of patients. Education on lifestyle rules revealed poor knowledge in 67% of our patients. HbA1c target was unkown in 82% of patients. The average score on SKILLD was at 37±26%. A score >50% was observed in 32.4% of patients. SKILLD value was positively correlated with education level (r=0.661; P<0.001), and negatively correlated with duration of diabetes and HbA1c (r=−0.384; P<0.001 and r=−0.497; P<0.001 respectively). Patients with low SKILLD scores had significantly higher HbA1c (9.78% vs 8.45%, P<0.001) and higher age (54.07-year-old vs 40.55-year-old, P<0.001) compared to patients with high SKILLD score.

Conclusion: Our study shows knowledge lack about diabetes. This may reflects the difficulty of education during consultation probably because time limitation. We insist through these results on the need of a complementary structured and multidisciplinary therapeutic education.